Hornday Ready To Get Rolling In Kroger 200
10/15/2009
Ron Hornaday has his eye on another championship.
For the past month, most of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series drivers have been re-charging their batteries for the stretch run.
Ron Hornaday says “bah, humbug” to any notion he may have spent any time resting or relaxing the past few weeks headed into the October 24th Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway.
“Well, at my age, you don’t wanna stop right now,” said the 51-year-old Hornaday. “I mean this is a lot fun. You’re in the game right now, we want to keep on playing it. We’ve just got to keep racing. If it’s five weeks off or three weeks off, it’s the same. It seems like an eternity. We’re trying to stay focused. We’re getting ready for Martinsville.”
It’s understandable why Hornaday isn’t exactly enjoying the break in action. He’s on a roll. He has six wins this season, leads the series points race by 197 over Matt Crafton and 255 over Mike Skinner. With five races remaining on the schedule, he seems to be marching toward his fifth NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship.
He knows Martinsville’s tight, tough layout can be difficult. He has a total of 45 truck series victories, but not any of them have come at Martinsville. He always seems to be good at Martinsville, but something always seems to happen … he gets caught up in a wreck, cuts a tire, runs out of gas. He finished second to team owner Kevin Harvick last spring, so he hopes he has a little Martinsville momentum.
“Martinsville is definitely one of the upset (tracks). It could turn this championship around for anybody,” said Hornaday. “So we’re gonna go out there and we’ve gotta run in the top five. We’ve gotta run good.
“We’ve had the dominant truck for the last two years at Martinsville, so if we don’t run out of fuel and we pit right, we’re gonna be good.”
Hornaday should also draw some comfort from his statistical lead on short tracks (tracks under a mile in length) this season. Hornaday leads on the short tracks with a Driver Rating of 130.3, Average Running Position of 3.8 and 150 Fastest Laps Run. He has two short-track wins this season and is the only driver to finish in the top five in all five short-track races this season.
Tickets for the TUMS Fast Relief 500 on Sunday, October 25, the Kroger 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on Saturday, October 24 and the Farm Bureau Insurance Pole Day on Friday, October 23 are on sale and can be purchased by calling 1.877.RACE.TIX or by visiting www.martinsvillespeedway.com.
Ticket prices range from $25 to $77 for the TUMS Fast Relief 500. Tickets for the Kroger 200 are $30 in advance and $35 the day of the event. Children 12 and under will be admitted to the Kroger 200 free of charge.
