Hornaday Jr. Beats Texas Jinx

Ron Hornaday Jr. celebrates

Ronda Greer/NASCAR

Ron Hornaday Jr. made one of his trademark masterful restarts on a green-white-checkered flag restart and kept Kyle Busch in his mirrors for the final two laps to win the Sam's Town 400 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race Friday at Texas Motor Speedway.

Busch started at the back of the 35-truck field after missing Thursday's qualifying and practice sessions. He flew to Fort Worth after qualifying Friday for the Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa.

For the next-to-last restart on Lap 157, Busch was fourth, the highest he'd been to that point in the race. He darted to the inside to pass Jack Sprague's Chevrolet in Turn 1 and went past Johnny Benson's Toyota on the backstretch to move up to second.

Hornaday had a comfortable lead over Busch, but an accident involving Scott Speed and Marc Mitchell sent the race, scheduled for 167 laps on the 1.5-mile track, into overtime.

"I wanted to win this race so bad and Kyle got up there," Hornaday said.

On the final restart, Hornaday's Chevrolet hugged the inside, as the driver of the No. 33 put his left-front wheel next to the grass exiting Turn 4, to take away the move Busch had used to overtake Sprague.

"I think maybe he (Busch) spun the tires," Hornaday said. "We were having some problems in Turn 2 and we got the truck up on the high side to get through there."

Busch's Toyota closed up on Hornaday's bumper on the backstretch, but never was able to get alongside.

Hornaday won by .283 seconds, about two truck lengths.

“I drove my heart out," Hornaday said. “I wanted to win this race bad. I won Texas, woo-hoo! But it was a team victory."

It was Hornaday's first win at Texas in 11 starts, his second of the season and the 35th of his CTS career. Hornaday moved into the points lead by 45 over Matt Crafton, who finished seventh.

Hornaday led 140 of 172 laps, including the last 57.

Busch climbed into the top 10 in 70 laps, but needed another 50 to get into the top five.

"The truck was terrible at the beginning," Busch said. "It was absolute junk. We had about an 11th place truck at the start and got it to about an eighth-place truck."

J.R. Norris practiced and qualified Busch's Toyota.

"J.R. and the guys did what they could do, but nobody drives like I do," Busch said. "It's hard to find a guy to set it up how I like it. We finished second for (owner) Billy Ballew. That's what matters most."

Benson finished third, followed by Sprague and Todd Bodine. Hornaday reclaimed the points lead by 45 over Matt Crafton, who finished seventh.

Results

*Rookie