STILL LEADING THE WAY: Ron Hornaday has not had the season he was hoping for when the green-flag fell at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in February. Despite the troubles the No. 33 team has experienced, Hornaday is still fourth among this season’s lap leaders. Hornaday has led 392 laps in 2010, placing him behind Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and current Truck Series point’s leader Todd Bodine. Hornaday has lead over 10 percent of the total laps completed in 2010.
SHORT-TRACK ACE: Hornaday leads the way among Truck Series drivers in short-track victories. Among Hornaday’s 47-career Truck Series wins, 22 of those wins were recorded at tracks one mile or less in length. Two of those short-track wins were tallied at Phoenix International Raceway in 1998 and 1999.
KEVIN HARVICK INC. DOMINANCE: Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) is the former stomping ground of Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) team co-owner Kevin Harvick and four-time Truck Series champion Hornaday. The California natives spent many of their early years racing the NASCAR Southwest Tour Series at PIR. This weekend at the one-mile track, KHI has the opportunity to win three in a row. Even though Harvick will not pilot one of the KHI trucks, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular Clint Bowyer will serve as teammate to Hornaday. Of the last eight Truck Series races at PIR, KHI has gone to victory lane four times.
BABY WATCH: Not only will Hornaday be piloting KHI’s No. 33 truck this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway, but he will also be on standby for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Ryan Newman. Newman and his wife Krissie are anxiously awaiting the arrival of their first child. Hornaday will stand at the ready should Newman need to leave to be apart of the birth.
Notes from the Professor: Quotes from Ron Hornaday:
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS HEADING TO PHOENIX?
“I have been pretty successful at Phoenix International Raceway over the years. I have had a lot of great races there and have two wins there in 1998 and 1999. It’s a flat race track for the most part. It has a little more banking in turns one and two than in turns three and four. We have been really good this year on the flatter, shorter tracks. Phoenix is a place that I have been running for a number of years and I really like going back to one of the roots of the Truck Series.”
CHASSIS HISTORY: The No. 33 E-Z-GO team will take chassis No. 048 to Phoenix International Raceway. Chassis No. 048 was last on track at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway where Hornaday visited victory lane for the second time in 2010. Chassis No. 048 has been the No. 33 teams primary chassis six times in 2010, running at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway, Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Kentucky Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway and, most recently, in Martinsville. The chassis has an average finish of 8.4 in 2010.
PREVIOUS RACE RECAP: Last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, Hornaday finished 32nd after being involved in a multi-truck accident on lap 52. During the first scheduled pit stop of the evening the No. 33 team had a malfunction with the first gas can and did not get the truck fully fueled. The team brought Hornaday back down pit road leaving him 20th for the restart. Several slower trucks became sideways in front of Hornaday, and anticipating trouble, Hornaday slowed and was hit from behind by the No. 25 truck of Tayler Malsam. The contact sent Hornaday into the outside wall. The No. 33 truck sustained heavy right-front damage, and were unable to return to competition.
ARE YOU A FOLLOWER? Twitter users can now keep up-to-date with Kevin Harvick Inc.’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams by following at http://twitter.com/KHI_TruckSeries. In addition, you can follow KHI’s Nationwide Series team at http://twitter.com /KHI_NNS. Want more from KHI? Follow KHI’s co-owners Kevin and DeLana Harvick at http://twitter.com/kevinharvick and http://twitter.com/delanaharvick.
MEDIA ACCESS: Members of the media can now log on to www.kevinharvickinc.com to gain access to press kit information online. For more information, please email Jessica Stroupe at KHI: jstroupe@kevinharvickinc.com.
About E-Z-GO
E-Z-GO, a Textron Inc. company, is a leading manufacturer of golf cars, utility and personal transportation vehicles. Products sold under the E-Z-GO brand include RXV® and TXT® fleet golf cars, Freedom® RXV and Freedom TXT personal golf cars, ST personal utility vehicles, Shuttle personnel carriers, and MPT turf-maintenance vehicles. E-Z-GO also produces the Cushman® line of heavy-duty material carriers.
E-Z-GO is the preferred golf car fleet provider for many of the world’s most revered golf courses, clubs and resorts. E-Z-GO is also the golf car of choice of nine of the nation’s ten largest course-management companies. E-Z-GO boasts the largest sales and service network in the industry, with more factory branch locations and independent distributors than any other manufacturer of golf cars and utility vehicles.
Founded in 1954 in Augusta, Ga., E-Z-GO became part of Textron Inc. in 1960.
About Textron
Textron Inc. is a multi-industry company that leverages its global network of aircraft, defense, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services. Textron in known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft Company, Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, Greenlee, and Textron Systems. More information is available at www.textron.com.
About Kevin Harvick Inc.
Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI), established in 2001 by Kevin and DeLana Harvick, is an 80,000 sq. ft. facility located in Kernersville, N.C. Home of the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship team, KHI enters 2010 in its seventh full year of competition with two full-time Truck Series teams and one full-time Nationwide Series team. Four-time Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday returns to the helm of the No. 33 Truck team looking for his fifth title and third championship for KHI (2009 and 2007), while Sprint Cup series stars Kevin Harvick and Elliott Sadler guide the No. 2 Truck team. Two-time NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Harvick will again shine as the lead driver of the No. 33 Nationwide Series team as he continues to make his mark in motorsports and establish KHI as one of the top teams in NASCAR competition. For more information about KHI and its teams, please visit www.KevinHarvickInc.com.
QUICK NOTES
Race Info:
November 12, 2010
Phoenix International Raceway
Lucas Oil 150
Race length: 150 laps, 150 miles
Truck Specs:
Chassis: 048
Engine: Earnhardt-Childress Racing (ECR)
Track Layout:
1.0-mile Tri-oval
Turns: 11-degree banking turns one and two, 9-degree banking turns three and four
Frontstretch: 3-degree banking
Backstretch: 9-degree banking
Weekend Schedule
Thursday:
Practice: 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., EST
Final Practice: 7:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., EST
Friday:
Qualifying: 4:30 p.m., EST
TV: Lucas Oil 150 can be seen live on SPEED beginning Friday at 7:30 p.m., EST.
Radio: The Motor Racing Network (MRN) will broadcast the race live at 7:45 p.m., EST.
Ron Hornaday
NASCAR Truck Series Statistics at
Phoenix International Raceway
Starts: 15
Wins: 2 (1998 and 1999)
Poles: 1 (1995)
Top Five’s: 9
Top 10’s: 12
Laps Led: 152
Average Start: 7.8
Average Finish: 6.9