March 30, 2010
By Allen Madding
Ron Hornaday, Jr. drove the Kevin Harvick Inc. No. 33 Longhorn Smokeless Tobacco Chevrolet from 31st to a second place finish in the Kroger 250 at Martinsville on Saturday. The 31st place start came from qualifying being rained out and the starting grid having been determined by the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series point standings.
Hornaday struggled with an ill-handling truck in the early part of the race and surrendered 17th place to make chassis adjustments on lap 28 under yellow. Hornaday set sail on the restart starting 22nd. When the yellow flew on lap 73, Hornaday was running 11th. A two tire pit stop put him back on the track ahead of the majority of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series field -- lining him up to restart in second place.
Hornaday took the lead of the Kroger 250 on lap 81 before being passed by his team owner Kevin Harvick, driving the No. 2 Tide Chevrolet. Several yellow flags and double-file restarts soon followed. As the race laps ticked away, Hornaday held his own in the top five positions.
As the remaining laps began to close Harvick began driving away from the field while Hornaday found himself in a heated battle for second position with Johnny Sauter and Mike Skinner. The bumping and shoving soon ensued.
With Sauter in second, Hornaday in third and Skinner running fourth, Hornaday got into the quarter-panel of Sauter’s No. 13 Curb Records/Sealmster/TRY13.com Chevrolet. Sauter spun from the contact. Skinner’s No. 5 International Trucks/Monaco RV Toyota made heavy contact with Sauter’s spinning No. 13. Skinner’s Toyota suffered significant enough damage to lose 24 laps for repairs. Sauter was able to continue to a 15th place finish.
Sauter was enraged when he emerged from the Mike Curb No. 13 Chevrolet and met Hornaday on pit road for a heated discussion about Hornaday dumping him. A NASCAR Camping World Truck Series official placed himself between the two combatants to try to maintain some order while the shouting match took place. After expressing his displeasure with Hornaday’s driving style, Sauter refused to discuss his interaction with Hornaday and escaped to his team’s pit area.
Hornaday indicated that Sauter had gotten into him earlier in the event causing him to lose several positions and summed it all up by saying, “I spun him out. That’s all there is to it…Johnny is all mad, but that’s what truck racing is all about.”
Mike Skinner expressed his frustration with Hornaday as well after the event by saying, “Hornaday, I love him to death, but he was wrong on this one. He drove like an idiot.” Skinner finished 27th.
The last 30 laps of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Kroger 250 at Martinsville looked like an episode of Mad House on the History Channel. Perhaps the drivers of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series have been watching the History Channel Television show or perhaps they have taken NASCAR’s President Mike Helton’s edict to “have at it, boys” -- pretty seriously.
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