CLERMONT, Ind. (July 30, 2011) — Ron Hornaday and the No. 33 Vlasic/Armour Chevrolet Silverado battled in the top 10 for the majority of Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis. The team fought a tight-handling truck during the 200-lap event, but was able to keep the Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) Chevrolet in the lead pack to bring home a fifth-place finish.
Hornaday took the green flag in the fifth position, but just as quickly as the leaders raced out of turn two down the backstretch, three trucks collided in turn one, bringing out the first yellow flag of the night. After a quick caution, the green flag waved on lap five with the Vlasic/Armour machine in the fifth place.
As the field climbed back to full speed, Hornaday reported to his team that he was unable to roll in the middle of the corners and had a tight-handling truck. Despite the handling issues, the No. 33 KHI Chevrolet maintained the seventh position until the second caution of the night came on lap 41 as rain fell on the Indiana short track.
NASCAR kept the field on the track under caution as the rain shower quickly dissipated. Some of the leaders came down pit road, but the No. 33 Chevrolet stayed out on track to maintain their track position. Hornaday restarted in the fifth position when the race returned to green on lap 57 but the driver was shuffled out of the position by teams that had come down pit road for fresh tires during the caution. By lap 74, Hornaday moved into the 12th spot.
The third caution of the event came on lap 81 for an accident in turn four involving two trucks. Under caution, the Vlasic/Armour Chevrolet made its first scheduled visit of the night to pit road on lap 82 for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment to help alleviate the tight-handling issues Hornaday had been battling.
When the field restarted on lap 84, Hornaday was in the 11th position. He quickly picked up four spots, moving up to seventh position just as the fourth and final caution flag waved on lap 91 for an accident in turn two. Hornaday relayed that the No. 33 Chevrolet was still a little snug. With 109 laps to go to the end of the race, the Vlasic/Armour crew encouraged their driver to save fuel as the team opted to remain on track during the final caution period.
Green-flag racing resumed on lap 93 with the veteran driver in the seventh position. The radio was full of chatter from atop the spotters stand as Hornaday battled with the No. 88 truck for the fourth position for the next 50 laps.
As the end of the race approached, Hornaday lost the fourth position to the No. 17 truck who had fresher tires and moved into the fifth spot on lap 175. With 25 laps to go, fuel mileage quickly became the name of the game as teams began running out of fuel. Hornaday was advised he was three laps short and needed to start conserving.
Hornaday continued to maneuver his way around the track, and with 10 laps remaining in the event, he picked up two positions to trucks pitting for fuel. After coming to the white flag, Hornaday ran out of fuel leaving him to coast across the finish line with a fifth-place finish.
The Truck Series heads to Pocono Raceway on Saturday, August 6, for the Good Sam RV Emergency Road Service 125. Watch the action live on SPEED at 1:00 p.m. ET and listen to MRN at 12:45 p.m. ET.
Comments from driver Ron Hornaday:
“We needed one more pit stop to make our truck perfect. We fought a tight truck all night and were not able to pick through the field like we had anticipated. We tried to save as much fuel as we could but fell a bit short at the end. Overall, this was a great points night and a great run for the No. 33 Vlasic/Armour Chevrolet Silverado.”
###