MARTINSVILLE, Va. (RacingWire) – Ron Hornaday beat Kyle Busch at his own game holding off Busch on the green/white/checker restart to win the Kroger 200 Camping World Truck race, his first at the famed short track at Martinsville.
Hornaday, Jr. ran up front most of the race but only led the last 11 laps. That was all he needed to win the Martinsville grandfather clock, the tradition race winner's trophy at Martinsville.
Hornaday, Jr. spoke of the respect he and Kyle showed each other. Respect isn't a word we often hear regarding truck series drivers, particularly Kyle Busch. “The kid races hard every lap,” said Hornaday, Jr.. “(For him) the only one thing there is is a trophy. Kyle and I, we can go out there and wreck trucks and all that stuff and now with him owning his own equipment he knows it takes a lot of money to go out there and do that.”
“I've been fortunate enough to be driving for a lot of great organizations. When Earnhardt made me come in and start building my own trucks and beatin' them out when it was my fault wrecking them, it taught me the respect. You can race hard. If someone runs into you you can run back into them but you try not to start the war on the track and with Kyle we've had ours but it's never been a crash fest. It's been I got him loose or he's got me loose and I was always frustrated because he didn't have anything to lose but he's got a championship to lose right now. He's going for the owner's champinoship... ...maybe last year he would have drove in a little deeper and pushed me up there if he were in Billy Ballew's truck but he raced me clean and I think we are going to take this truck to Phoenix.”
The first 100 laps of the 200 lap race were fairly uneventful but that didn't last long as the second half of the race featured a series of spins, some assisted and some unassisted, leading to 11 caution flags in the series shortest race of the year.
With 43 laps to go Kevin Harvick and Johnnie Sauter crashed in separate incidents.
Harvick was trying to find a gap to come off the high groove after his left rear tire went down. He wasn't able to get to pit lane before spinning his No.2 Tide sponsored Chevy. At the same time James Buscher and Sauter came together with Sauter getting the short end of the stick.
The race was stopped for just over eight minutes following a wreck with 34 laps to go that severely damaged the front end of local favorite Timothy Peters. The wreck dumped a bunch of fluid on the track forcing the red flag.
Todd Bodine did one of the hardest things an athlete has to do Saturday at Martinsville. Bodine took the track less than 24 hours after his mother passed away.
Bodine who led the most laps (83) on the way to a third place finish talked about how supportive his truck series friends were. “It's tough,” said Bodine. “It was a tough day for me. I was good until coming down pit road. I know they were up there watching. The thing about a time like this is it makes you realize how many friends you really have. I couldn't walk 10- feet through the garage area today without somebody stopping me and hugging me. That means more than anything.”
Four female drivers combined to break a NASCAR record as it was the first time four women started a
NASCAR touring series event. Jennifer Jo Cobb, Joanna Long, and twins Amber and Angela Cope started the race.
The Cope's are the nieces of Daytona 500 winner Derrick Cope.
Johanna Long was the highest finishing of the female racers coming home 22nd. Amber Cope, Angela Cope and Cobb finished 26th, 30th and 33rd respectively.
Bodine's third place finish gives him a 282 point championship lead over his closest competetion, Aric Almirola who finished fifth.
Johnny Sauter, Autin Dillon and Matt Crafton round out the top five in the series points standings.
The next stop for the Camping World Truck Series is Saturday October 30th at Talledaga Superspeedway.
