Hornaday wins trucks race at O’Reilly for third time in four years

Hornaday wins again at O’Reilly

CLERMONT, Ind. — Ron Hornaday won the NASCAR Trucks Series race at O’Reilly Raceway Park for the third time in four years on Friday.

Hornaday, who qualified fifth, became the first driver to win four major NASCAR races at O’Reilly. He also won the trucks race in 1997, 2007 and 2009. He led 129 of the 200 laps to snap a 22-race winless streak.

Kyle Busch was second and Matt Crafton third. Pole-sitter Timothy Peters finished 10th.

Points leader Todd Bodine was seventh after qualifying sixth on the short 0.686-mile track. Bodine has nine top-five finishes in 12 starts, but his worst three finishes — seventh at ORP, 30th at Martinsville and 17th at Iowa — have come on short tracks.

Hornaday’s win last year set a record for consecutive Truck Series wins with four. He then won the next race, at Nashville, to push the record to five, but hadn’t won since.

Hornaday moved past Busch for second place in lap 59, then pushed past Peters for the lead in lap 62.

Hornaday built a significant advantage, but a yellow flag during lap 85 to remove debris from the track drew the leaders together. Hornaday had a good pit stop to remain in front.

A three-car crash put Aric Almirola out of the race near the midway point. Almirola, who entered the race second in points, finished 31st out of 36 drivers.

There was contact between Hornaday and Busch during lap 101 shortly after a caution, but both drivers maintained control, and Hornaday quickly reasserted himself as the leader. Johnny Sauter then moved past Busch into second.

Peters gained the lead after a caution, Busch moved into second and Hornaday dropped to third three-fourths of the way through, but Hornaday pushed his way back to the front in lap 152, and he finished strong.