DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 15, 2010)—- Ron Hornaday and the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) Longhorn Moist Snuff Chevrolet Silverado team came into the first race of the season refreshed and eager to show off their hard work from the off season. With a fifth-place qualifying effort, the KHI team was poised and ready to defend their championship by taking the No. 33 Longhorn Moist Snuff Chevrolet to victory lane.
The NextEra Energy 250 was postponed on Friday due to torrential rain fall in the Daytona Beach area. The Truck Series race began following Saturday’s Nationwide Series event where Tony Stewart won in a KHI-owned car and KHI’s co-owner Kevin Harvick finished third. Following the great start to the year for KHI, the truck teams were ready to answer the call and return KHI to victory lane. However, KHI teammates Ron Hornaday and Elliott Sadler’s days were cut short as an on-track incident on lap 32 deterred an opportunity for a KHI sweep.
“It was a tough night for the No. 33 Longhorn Moist Snuff Chevrolet,” said Hornaday. “The truck was awesome and we were really starting to roll there. Elliott [Sadler] and I were working well together. The guys did a great job in the pits, but we just got caught up there. Kyle [Busch] and I were drafting and then he decided to dive low, I lost all my momentum and got hit from behind. That’s Daytona. I’m telling you though we really have another championship team. All the guys worked really hard and they never gave up. We got our truck back on the track, gained a few position and saved a DNF.”
The mayhem began before the green-flag fell as two trucks wrecked down the front stretch warming up their tires. When the race began, Sadler, who qualified second, jumped out to a commanding lead with Hornaday close behind. Before the field could complete their first lap, a multi-truck wreck collected nine competitors. The race restarted after a brief clean up on lap eight. Hornaday and Sadler led the pack riding one-two for the next 11 laps until the second caution of the night waved. The No. 33 truck followed the No. 2 truck down pit road for the first scheduled set of pit stops. The No. 33 team took four tires and fuel, making no adjustments to the truck. The field returned to green-flag racing on lap 24 with Sadler leading the field and Hornaday scored in third.
Following the restart, the leaders began shuffling positions. Sadler and Hornaday lost each other in the draft and were forced to find other drafting partners. By lap 29, Hornaday had fallen back to fourth, but was making a charge back toward the front. With drafting help from behind he attached to the lap truck of Kyle Busch bringing him all the way back up to the second position. However, Busch dove to the bottom leaving Hornaday in the highline losing his momentum down the back straight-a-way. The trucks behind him had a head of steam and were unable to keep from hitting Hornaday in the back bumper turning him hard into the wall.
Hornaday and the No. 33 team went to work on his severely damaged truck taking 52 laps to complete repairs. Hornaday returned to the track on lap 82 running the final 18 laps crossing the finish line in the 27th position. Hornaday’s KHI teammate Sadler was also involved in the lap 32 crash. He too made repairs and was able to complete the race finishing 20th. Timothy Peters won the NextEra Energy 250 followed by Todd Bodine, Dennis Setzer, Jason White and Matt Crafton.
The Truck Series returns to action March 6th at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Atlanta 200.
STATS RECAP
Race Info
February 13, 2010
Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway
Race: 1 of 25
Driver: Ron Hornaday
Started: 5th
Finished: 27th
Truck Series Point Standings: 27th
Next on the Schedule for the No. 33:
Date: March 6, 2010
Track: Atlanta Motor Speedway
Event Name: Atlanta 200
Driver: Ron Hornaday
Broadcast Time: SPEED 1:30 p.m., EST MRN 1:30 p.m., EST