Hornaday Finishes Ninth in Rain-Delayed Race at Martinsville

NASCAR Truck Series – Kroger 250
March 29th, 2014 – Martinsville Speedway

Ron Hornaday Jr. finished ninth for Turner Scott Motorsports (TSM) at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday evening after rain on Saturday forced the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race to be pushed after the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. The veteran driver started the weekend strong in the No. 30 Rheem Comfort Products Chevrolet, finishing eighth in first practice and taking the top spot in final practice on Friday. Rain washed out qualifying on Saturday, and Hornaday began the 250-lap race in the fifth position based on practice speeds. Hornaday remained in the fifth position following the drop of the green flag before moving up to fourth on lap 22. Crew chief Shannon Rursch called his truck to pit road under the second caution at lap 34, and Hornaday took over the lead after a quick pit stop by his TSM team. Hornaday paced the field until the caution flag waved on lap 91. Rursch kept Hornaday out on the track, but the majority of the lead-lap trucks did not follow suit, coming to pit road for fresh tires. Hornaday slowly slipped back to 12th after the field returned to green-flag racing. Hornaday fell back to 18th when he later pitted for tires and most trucks stayed out, but he was able to work his way back to the top five. While running fourth with a handful of laps to go, Hornaday was tagged by another competitor. Despite suffering significant damage and having to come to back to pit road so his crew could evaluate the No. 30 machine, Hornaday was able to earn a top-10 position, bringing the Rheem Comfort Products Chevy home in the ninth position for TSM.

You never quite know what you’re going to get at Martinsville [Speedway]. My Turner Scott Motorsports team prepared a great truck, but our strategy didn’t line up the way we needed it to with the way the cautions fell. I used up my brakes some when I was running on older tires, so we weren’t as strong after that. Still, I had a lot of fun out there, but it’s unfortunate that we got caught up in someone else’s mess at the end. It was nice to be able to salvage a top-10 finish, but I would have liked to get our Rheem Comfort Products Chevy into victory lane. I want to thank Steve Turner, Harry Scott and everyone at TSM, especially the Nationwide regulars that gave up their off weekend to come truck racing with me. Although I would have liked to get them a win, I’m glad we were still able to go out there and run well and have a shot at it today. – Ron Hornaday

Start – 5, Finish – 9, Laps Led – 62, Points – 37

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