Ron Hornaday may have headed into Bristol Motor Speedway hoping to extend his streak to six-consecutive wins, but it was Kyle Busch who was celebrating in victory lane following the O'Reilly 200 on Wednesday night.
"We've been fast every time we've come here," Busch said.
The win was Busch's second straight in the Camping World Truck Series at Bristol, and it was his fifth-career win at the track across NASCAR's three national series -- two in the Truck, two Sprint Cup wins, and a single Nationwide win.
"I love this place," he said.
Hornaday started near the front (3rd), as did fellow championship contender and former series champion Mike Skinner (2nd), but both made pit road miscues during the first caution flag of the evening -- Hornaday missing his pit stall and Skinner speeding on pit road -- and restarted near the back of the pack. Both Hornaday and Skinner methodically worked their way back to the front.
Meanwhile, Jason White, along with Timothy Peters stayed out when everyone else made the early pit stop. As a result, White took the lead and held on long enough to lead the most laps in the event and more than the total he had led at all tracks in his entire Truck Series career.
"It was a great feeling," White said of his time up front. "We showed them that we were here."
With old tires, he eventually fell victim to Busch and his four fresher tires. White did pit later in the race and wound up with a finish of 14th.
Skinner had to make an unscheduled pit stop on lap 123 and was unable to work his way back toward the front after doing it earlier in the race. He ended up finishing 20th.
Hornaday, on the other hand, was able to keep the lead in his sights after working his way back up through the field. It wasn't a six-straight win, but he did post a solid top-five, a third, to maintain his sizable lead in the points standings.
"Now we can start all over again," Hornaday said. "It was a good points day; we'll take it."
Matt Crafton, who is Hornaday's closest competitor in the championship points standings, finished one position ahead of Hornaday in second, but didn't make up much ground on Hornaday, since the three-time Camping World Truck Series Champion finished right behind him.
Crafton felt that maybe he would have had something for Busch in the closing laps had a late race caution not come out with about 20 to go.
"Our truck was unbelievable on the long runs," Crafton said.
Hornaday's teammate for the evening, Ryan Newman, fared much better in the Truck Series event than he did in the modified race that was earlier in the evening. Newman shook off a lap two modified wreck to finish fourth in the Truck event.
Right behind Newman was Brian Scott, with a cast still on his hand because of a broken wrist, to finish fifth.
Comments