Ron Hornaday has won his fourth Truck series title Getty Images/Todd Warshaw
Last night in Phoenix Kevin Harvick won the Truck series race, but more importantly his driver, Ron Hornaday, secured enough points to win his fourth drivers title in that series.
While winning four titles in one of the top three divisions of NASCAR is a huge deal, it is not comparable to the multiple Cup titles won by Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Sr., Jeff Gordon, and more than likely in a little more than a week Jimmie Johnson.
It seems the lines between the Truck series, Nationwide series, and Sprit Cup series have been blurred. Many of the announcers on Speed TV last night where quick to point out that Hornaday is now among this elite group of drivers.
I don’t think that is quite accurate. To win one Sprint Cup title one has to beat the best race car drivers in the world. To win one Sprint Cup title one has to out run the best racers in the world for 36 weeks. To be frank the reason Hornaday has won four Truck titles is because he could not cut it in the Cup series.
In fact the same could be said for the man with Three Truck titles Jack Sprague, but there is nothing wrong with being the Jack Ingram or Sam Ard of the Truck series.
I am not trying to take anything away from Hornaday who is a great truck series driver, and NASCAR could use a few more guys to make this series really great. However we cannot blur what happens in the Truck series, with what happens in the Sprint Cup series.
The Truck series is great, but it is hardly the level of competition or grind that the Sprint Cup series is. The trucks run 25 races a year, and have several breaks in the action along the way. The Cup series is a grind with few off weekends, and is the premier racing circuit in North America.
Now Hornaday’s 45 Truck wins, 4 Nationwide Series wins, and 4 Truck series titles probably will qualify him for the NASCAR Hall of Fame at some point, but he has hardly accomplished what Petty, Earnhardt Sr., Gordon, and Johnson have.
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