HORNADAY RETURNS TO NATIONWIDE SERIES: This weekend at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis (ORP), three-time Truck Series champion and current points leader Ron Hornaday will step behind the wheel of the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) Vlasic Pickles Chevrolet. In eight previous Nationwide Series starts at ORP, Hornaday has earned one win (2000), two top-five and four top-10 finishes. Of his eight starts in the series, his last two have been in KHI-owned cars.
DOUBLE-DUTY ACTION: In addition to running the Nationwide Series race on Saturday evening at ORP, Hornaday will also run the Truck Series race on Friday night, looking to take the No. 33 Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Chevrolet to victory lane and score his fourth straight Truck Series win.
At ORP Hornaday has nine Truck Series starts with two wins, six top-five and six top-10 finishes. His first win in the Truck Series came in 1997 while driving for Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) and 10 years later in 2007, he returned to victory lane at ORP this time behind the wheel of the No. 33 KHI Chevrolet.
TRIPLE EFFECT: The number three seems to be a common number associated with Hornaday. He pilots the No. 33 truck full-time and will be behind the wheel of the No. 33 car this weekend, but take a look at his statistics. In the last three starts at ORP in the Nationwide Series, Hornaday has started each race from the third position. Overall between the Nationwide and Truck Series, Hornaday has a combined total of three victories at ORP. He currently has won three truck series races in a row (The Milwaukee Mile, Memphis Motorsports Park and Kentucky Speedway) and looks to be on a roll. This week he will look to earn his second career Nationwide Series victory at ORP.
WELCOME TO THE TEAM: This week the No. 33 KHI Chevrolet will sport the colors of Vlasic Pickles, a brand of Pinnacle Foods Group, LLC. This will be the only race for Vlasic Pickles, but early this season at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway Kevin Harvick carried the colors of Armour canned meats and later this season, Ryan Newman will pilot the No. 33 Hungry-Man frozen dinners and entrees at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C.
BEFORE THE RACE: QUOTES WITH DRIVER RON HORNADAY:
How do you feel about doing double duty in both the Truck and Nationwide Series for the second time this year? Does running the truck race on Friday help prepare you for the Nationwide race on Saturday? “I really like running in the Nationwide Series. It gives me a little something different and a new group of guys to work with. The last time I ran a Nationwide race we had to do a double header (at The Milwaukee Mile) and that was a lot, but I’m looking forward to it this weekend at ORP. I do think that running the truck race helps. I always learn so much. It’s funny but on these short tracks you can really translate a lot of information between the cars and trucks.”
Piloting the same chassis that KHI co-owner Kevin Harvick won with at Bristol, is there added pressure? “No, not really. It just lets me know it’s a great car and I know Ernie (Cope, crew chief) and the guys will know how to tune it perfectly for me.”
With your success at ORP, what’s the key to a good lap around ORP? “If you can get your car to cut through the middle of the corner and be able to get in the gas faster than anyone else then you will most likely be good in the race. I think qualifying is really key at short tracks. If you start up front, you tend to finish up front and that is what we plan to do.”
CHASSIS HISTORY: This week the No. 33 Vlasic Pickles team will unload chassis No. 041 from the KHI stables. This chassis was last on track with Hornaday at The Milwaukee (Wisc.) Mile where he started the race 13th and crossed the finish line ninth. Most notably, this is the same chassis that KHI co-owner Kevin Harvick drove to his first career win in a KHI-owned car earlier this season at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, his 33rd career Nationwide Series victory. In addition, Harvick also ran this chassis at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway in May, starting the race eighth and finishing fifth.
PREVIOUS RACE RECAP: Returning to Gateway International Raceway for the first time since 2006, Kevin Harvick and the No. 33 Jimmy John’s team looked to continue Harvick’s success at the track, this time in a KHI-owned car. With a ‘freaky fast’ and good handling car, Harvick was able to start the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 from the third position and was having a dominating run early in the race. After leading a race high 105 laps, Harvick radioed the team on lap 171 while leading that he was out of fuel. Bringing the car to pit road for fuel and tires cost the team three laps to the leaders, relegating the No. 33 Jimmy John’s Chevrolet to a 17th-place finish.
ONLINE MEDIA KITS: Media members can now access KHI media kits online at KevinHarvickInc.com. Included on the site are driver bios, driver and team images, KHI history and statistics, team profiles and schedules. Please contact Alicia Deal (adeal@kevinharvickinc.com) at KHI for access to the new site.
QUICK NOTES
July 25, 2009
O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis
Kroger 200
Race length: 200 laps/137.2 miles
Banking: 7.5-degrees in the turns
2-degrees on the straight-a-ways
Track layout: .686 miles
Shape: Oval
Pre-Race Schedule:
Thursday:
First Practice: 9:30-10:45 a.m., ET
Final Practice: 11:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m., ET
Friday:
Qualifying: 5:05 p.m., ET
TV: The Kroger 200 can be seen live on ESPN at 7:30 p.m., ET.
Radio: The Motor Racing Network (MRN) will broadcast the race live at 7:30 p.m., ET.
No. 33 Vlasic Pickles Chevrolet Specs:
Chassis: 041
Engine: ECR
Ron Hornaday
Nationwide Series Stats at ORP
Year No. Team Start Finish
2007 77 KHI 3 5
2006 33 KHI 3 23
2005 32 TB 3 14
2004 2 RCR 23 35
2003 2 RCR 16 8
2002 26 DC 29 10
2000 3 DEI 16 1
1999 25 ER 24 39
*KHI: Kevin Harvick Inc.
*TB: Todd Braun
*RCR: Richard Childress Racing
*DC: Dave Carroll
*DEI: Dale Earnhardt Inc.
*ER: Ed Rensi
About Pinnacle Foods Group, LLC
Pinnacle Foods Group LLC, with offices in Mountain Lakes and Cherry Hill, New Jersey, is a leading producer, marketer and distributor of high-quality branded food products in the frozen foods and dry foods segments. The dry foods segment consists primarily of Duncan Hines® baking mixes and frostings; Vlasic® pickles, peppers and relish; Armour® canned meats; Open Pit® barbeque sauce and Mrs. Butterworth’s® and Log Cabin® syrups and pancake mixes. The frozen foods segment consists primarily of Aunt Jemima® frozen breakfasts; Swanson® and Hungry-Man® frozen dinners and entrees; Van de Kamp’s® and Mrs. Paul’s® frozen seafood; Celeste® pizza; and Lender’s® bagels.
About Kevin Harvick Inc.
Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI), established in 2001, is a 70,000 sq. ft. facility located in Kernersville, N.C. KHI houses two full-time Truck Series teams, including the 2007 series champions. The No. 33 team is led by three-time Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday and the No. 4 KHI All-Stars team is comprised of Ricky Carmichael, the most successful motocross racer in American history, J.R. Fitzpatrick and a variety of NASCAR Sprint Cup stars. KHI is also home to the No. 33 Nationwide Series team competing full-time with drivers Kevin Harvick (a two-time Nationwide Series champion), 2008 Daytona 500 champion Ryan Newman, Ron Hornaday, Cale Gale and Kelly Bires. The 2009 season marks KHI’s sixth year of full-time competition in NASCAR’s elite divisions. Visit www.kevinharvickinc.com for more information.