FT. WORTH, Texas (November 6, 2010)—- Ron Hornaday and the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) Georgia Boot team had a promising run going when a fuel issue on the first scheduled pit stop forced the No. 33 team to return to pit road for an unscheduled fuel stop. Hornaday restarted at the back of the pack, putting him in a dangerous position which would ultimately ruin his night. As slower trucks in front of the No. 33 truck became tangled together, Hornaday slowed to miss the wreck. Unfortunately, the No. 25 truck of Tayler Malsam did not stop and ran into the No. 33 truck from behind, turning Hornaday hard into the outside wall. The No. 33 truck sustained heavy right-front damage. Hornaday took the truck to the garage area, but the damage was too great to return to the track ending the night for the No. 33 team.
“We just can’t get a break this season it seems,” said Hornaday after surveying the damage in the Truck Series garage area. “I just really hate this for Georgia Boot, E-Z-GO and all of our great sponsors. We just have had terrible luck this year. We had a malfunction with a part on our gas can which did not allow fuel to flow from the first can on our pit stop. We all made the call to come back down pit road and take fuel, but once we got mired back there with the slower trucks, I just couldn’t move because no one would pick a lane. I saw a few trucks starting to wreck in front of me, so I backed off and the 25 ran us over. It’s so unfortunate.”
Hornaday began the WinStar World Casino 350K from the fourth position and quickly moved into the third position before the first caution of the evening waved on lap one. The race restarted on lap five with Hornaday scored third. He made the move to the outside to challenge leader Kyle Busch. On lap six, Hornaday took the lead from Busch at the line, but the No. 18 battled back retaking the lead. The pair swapped the lead several times before Busch prevailed on lap nine. Hornaday settled into the second position trying different lines as other trucks moved around the track.
With green-flag runs on the horizon, the No. 33 team prepared to make their first scheduled stop of the evening, but on lap 40 the caution waved for the second time after the No. 3 truck careened into the wall when the right-front tire let go. Crew chief Butch Hytlon brought the No. 33 truck down pit road for four tires, fuel and an air-pressure adjustment. The team’s stop looked flawless, but the gas man reported that the first can of fuel failed to depress and let fuel into the truck’s fuel cell. After some discussion, the No. 33 team decided to bring Hornaday back down pit road on lap 47 for fuel. The additional stop mired Hornaday deep in the field restarting the race on lap 48 in the 20th position. Hornaday began to make his way back up to the front of the field. However, Hornaday noticed that the trucks in front of him were sideways, so he slowed slightly, trying to anticipate an incident. He signaled to the truck behind him he was slowing down but apparently the signal was not received and the No. 25 truck of Tayler Malsam got into the No. 33 truck, sending him hard into the outside wall.
The No. 33 team quickly met the truck in the garage area to survey the damage. After trying to make repairs, it was determined there were essential internal parts that could not be fixed. Hornaday’s night was over resulting in a 32nd-place finish.
Busch went on to win the race, followed by Johnny Sauter, Matt Crafton, Todd Bodine and KHI teammate, Elliott Sadler. The Truck Series returns to action on Friday November 12th at Phoenix International Raceway, coverage begins live on SPEED Channel at 7:30 p.m., EST.
STATS RECAP
Race Info
November 5, 2010
Texas Motor Speedway
Race: 23 of 25
Driver: Ron Hornaday
Started: 4th
Finished: 32nd
Truck Series Point Standings: 7th, 586 points behind leader Todd Bodine
Next on the Schedule for the No. 33:
Date: November 12, 2010
Track: Phoenix International Raceway
Event Name: Lucas Oil 150
Driver: Ron Hornaday
Broadcast Time: SPEED 7:30 p.m., EST MRN 7:45 p.m., EST