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Ron Hornaday Finishes Ninth in Rain-Delayed Race at Pocono Raceway

08/08/11

Ron Hornaday Finishes Ninth in Rain-Delayed Race at Pocono Raceway
Veteran Driver Captures 200th Top-10 Finish in Truck Series Competition

POCONO, Pa. (August 8, 2011) — The No. 33 Utz Snacks Chevrolet Silverado brought home a ninth-place finish at Pocono Raceway on Sunday morning after rain postponed the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event on Saturday afternoon. Four-time champion Ron Hornaday spent the entire 50-lap race running in the top 15 before bringing home his 200th top-10 finish in 289 series starts.

Hornaday started in the seventh position for the Good Sam RV Emergency Road Service 125. In the opening laps, the driver was shuffled back to the 11th position before the first caution of the day fell on lap four for debris. The No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) team remained on track and maintained the 11th spot with the field quickly returning to green on lap five.

With clouds rolling over the 2.5-mile track and the threat of rain imminent, the field began battling hard for position. On lap seven, three trucks collided together on the frontstretch, bringing out the second caution of the day. The No. 33 Utz Snacks Chevrolet elected once again to stay out on track and took the lap eight restart from the ninth position.

On lap 15, the rain began to fall bringing out the caution flag with Hornaday in the 10th position.  The driver reported to the team that his truck was a little tight. Crew chief Jeff Hensley brought the Chevrolet down pit road for four tires, fuel and both air-pressure and chassis adjustments to help resolve the handling issues.

Hornaday was sitting 14th when he returned to the track. The field continued to make laps under caution until they were brought down pit road for a red flag due to the increasingly heavy rain. NASCAR halted the race and after an over two-hour delay to wait out the weather, elected to postpone racing to the following morning as they saw no opening in the weather forecast for the remainder of the day.

The drivers returned to their trucks Sunday morning with the race resuming under caution on lap 18. With pit road being open, five trucks in front of the No. 33 Utz Snacks Chevrolet came down pit road to make adjustments, moving Hornaday up to the ninth position for the lap 21 restart.

Back under green, Hornaday picked up four positions in five laps, moving from ninth to fifth. Despite a sizeable cushion between the No. 33 Chevrolet and the driver running in fourth, Hornaday was running lap times equivalent to the race leader, his KHI co-owner and eventual race winner, Kevin Harvick. The caution flag waved on lap 32 for debris on the track, just as the driver caught up with the lead pack of trucks.

Hensley told Hornaday to stay out during the caution period to gain track position and to save as much fuel as he could.  On lap 34, the race went back to green-flag conditions with Hornaday in third. The driver quickly muscled his way to the second position. As Hornaday settled into the spot, the yellow flag waved for the fifth time on lap 37.  The No. 33 Chevrolet again remained on track and resumed green-flag racing on lap 39 in the second position.

With 11 laps to go, Hornaday drove hard into turn one but got loose after hitting a bump, moving him up the race track.  The driver was shuffled back to the fourth position with 10 laps to go. For the sixth time during the race, the caution flag fell on lap 43 as a truck stalled on the track. Hornaday, running in the fifth spot at the time of caution, remained on track and continued to save fuel.

The field restarted with five laps remaining but was slowed three laps later for an accident on the frontstretch. The late-race caution set the field for a green-white-checkered finish. The No. 33 team, good on fuel for the overtime scenario, opted not to come to pit road during the caution. Hornaday and his Utz Snacks Chevrolet lined up in the seventh position for the restart. In the final dash to the end, the driver fought to hold on to the seventh spot but was shuffled back to ninth where he remained when the checkered flag flew.

The Truck Series will hit the track at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday, August 20, for the VFW 200. Watch the action live on SPEED at 12:30 p.m. ET and listen to MRN at 12:15 p.m. ET.

Comments from driver Ron Hornaday:
“We had a really fast truck and were able to catch the leaders about half way into the race, but we just weren’t as fast as Kevin [Harvick]. He had the truck to win and the truck to beat today. This was our last race with Utz and we wish we could’ve given them a better finish. Thanks to all the fans who waited out the rain yesterday and came back for our race this morning.”

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