Hornaday continues Craftsman dominance
Posted on Sunday, June 29, 2008
MEMPHIS — In the past, drivers have traditionally used their front bumpers to nudge their way into victory lane at Memphis Motorsports Park.
But on Saturday night, Ron Hornaday simply did not allow anyone close enough to his rear bumper to touch it.
Hornaday turned in a dominating performance and pulled away from Erik Darnell on a couple of late restarts to win the O’Reilly 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race.
“Good night for us. Good victory,” said Hornaday, the three-time and defending series champion. “I’ve always wanted to get one of those cool Elvis trophies that they give you here. Now I’ve got one.” Three times in the final 30 laps, Hornaday was able to drive away from Darnell on restarts. The race’s final caution came on the 198 th lap when Ted Musgrave, Marc Mitchell and Keven Wood crashed in turn four. After a red-flag period to clean the track, Hornaday had to survive a final green-whitecheckered restart.
Afterward, Hornaday said he was well aware of Memphis’ history of bump-and-run finishes.
“There’s two ways to keep that from happening here,” he said. “You can pull away on the frontstraight or you can go into [turn one ] running about 15 mph so you don’t spin out when they run into you — because they are going to run into you.
“ I went through every scenario [while waiting out the red flag period ]. I would have a flat. The truck wouldn’t restart. I would get sweat in my eye and run into the fence. I’m just happy to get out of here with the win.” Hornaday jumped out to a. 427-second lead at the white flag, and the margin was. 270 at the finish. The victory was his 36 th, tops in the series.
“Ron was just better than us on the restarts,” Darnell said. “After six or seven laps, we would be able to equalize and keep pace with him. On the [final restart ], I knew there were some strong guys behind me. I was doing all I could do to keep them behind me.” Darnell was racing with a heavy heart after his roommate, Jason Arden, was killed in an auto accident this week in Charlotte, N. C. Arden was employed by Stanton Barrett’s Nationwide Series team and previously had worked in the truck series.
“Ron is a good friend of mine and Jason’s,” Darnell said. “So if I couldn’t win, I was glad to see Ron do it.” Polesitter Johnny Benson, who entered the race as the series points leader after finishing third, second and first, respectively, at the past three races, suffered transmission and engine problems on a lap-83 restart and finished 33 rd. Benson, who drives for truck owner Bill Davis of Batesville, led the first 43 laps and was in second place behind Hornaday on the restart. But when he punched the accelerator at the green flag, the truck did not respond.
“I got stuck in second gear — in between two gears, actually,” said Benson, who fell to fourth in the points standings, 56 points behind leader Hornaday. “When I finally got it out [of gear ], I over-revved the engine and broke something.”
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