KANSAS CITY, Kan. (June 5, 2011) — The No. 33 Anderson’s Maple Syrup Chevrolet went into the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 with high hopes of bringing home the victory for the 400th NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event. Unexpected tire failure early in the race took the four-time champion Ron Hornaday out of contention at Kansas Speedway.
The Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) Chevrolet began the 167-lap event in the fourth position after morning qualifying at the 1.5-mile track. As the green flag dropped, Hornaday reported that his truck was very loose and felt there was a tire going down.
On lap 17, Hornaday had a right-front tire go down, causing him to spin and make contact with the turn three wall. The truck sustained major damage to the left fender, and the KHI team headed straight to the garage to repair the damage.
The championship-contending team got right to work on the Anderson’s Maple Syrup Chevrolet replacing the left-front fender, and using all the bare bond the team could find to get the truck in position to return to the track.
After spending more than half of the race in the garage, the No. 33 Chevrolet Silverado returned to the track on lap 79 in the 33rd position with hopes to earn as many points as possible. When the caution slowed the field on lap 112, Hornaday came down pit road for four fresh tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment. The team also used this time to tape down the hood for safety, adding bungee cords across the hood from one tire well to the other. The field restarted on lap 115 with the No. 33 sitting 32nd.
The final caution of the afternoon was brought out on lap 133. The Anderson’s Maple Syrup truck returned to pit road for additional repairs to ensure they could make it to the end of the event without any issues. Hornaday would restart the field in the 30th-position and held that position as he crossed the finish line, 67 laps down.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will return to action at Texas Motor Speedway on June 10 for the WinStar World Casino 400k. Watch the action live on SPEED at 9 p.m. CT.
Comments from driver Ron Hornaday:
“We had really high hopes heading into this event today. We finally found something there at the end of second practice and anticipated a great afternoon. We were three laps into the event, and we were fighting the slick, loose race track but I could feel the tire going down. I hate this for Anderson’s Maple Syrup who came on board with us this weekend. I tried to hang on to the truck but couldn’t do it. The team worked really hard to get this truck back out on track, and I’m really proud of everyone a part of this team.”
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