Hornaday rallies for Truck race win at Lowe’s

Ron Hornaday Jr. celebrates winning the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, his 40th career series victory

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Ron Hornaday rallied from a lap down to pick up his first victory of the season in Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Hornaday passed Matt Crafton with 22 laps to go and held off Kyle Busch for his 40th career win and his second at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Matt Crafton finished third, followed by Ryan Newman and Terry Cook.

“I didn’t even think about that," Hornaday said of the 40th victory. “I have no idea where to start. Just go to one of your local GM stores and get one of these (Chevrolet) trucks. They’re fast."

Hornaday and his team found themselves behind the eight-ball late in the race after getting caught on pit road when the caution came out during a green-flag stop on lap 87.

After getting their lap back and making some final adjustments, Hornaday wasted little time moving up to challenge for the lead, ducking inside Crafton on lap 106 to take the lead with Busch following behind to take second.

Following the fifth caution of the night, Hornaday led the field to the green flag with Busch looking to the inside for the lead, but Busch bobbled trying to hold the low line, allowing Hornaday to pull away.

Busch recovered to hold onto second, but wasn’t able to gain any ground on the leader as Hornaday cruised to the checkered flag.

“I knew if I blocked the top, Kyle (Busch) was going to go to the bottom and I knew I would have limited room going down there. I did the right thing and we both could have wrecked going into (turn) three, but he lifted."

Kyle Busch was sent to the tail end of the longest line after having too many crew members over the wall in the closing stages of the race. He was able to battle back to finish second

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After starting on the pole after rain washed out qualifying, Busch got sent to the rear after having too many crew members over the wall during his pit stop on lap 28.

Busch was then sent to the rear again on lap 87 for aggressive driving and making contact with race leader Colin Braun.

Despite rebounding for a second-place finish, Busch sounded off over the disparity in the horsepower between the Chevrolets and his Toyota.

“Frustrating night overall and that’s how you can really put it," said Busch. “I’m not very happy about (Hornaday) and the Chevrolets having the advantage they do and it’s just frustrating to race against that.

“We’ll never be able to keep up with those guys down a straightaway, but when we’re running wide open and another guy blows by your doors on the inside when he’s running wide open – it’s pretty stupid."

Mike Skinner slides on the side of his truck after an accident with T.J. Bell. Skinner walked away from the accident uninjured

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The night wasn’t any better for several drivers who had their shot at winning the race.

Friday’s nights race was red-flagged for nearly a half-hour after Mike Skinner rolled his Toyota after spinning in the front-stretch and hitting the SAFER barrier. Skinner emerged unhurt, but officials were forced to throw the red flag to make repairs to the SAFER barrier.

Braun led a race-high 43 laps before getting tagged by Busch while leading on lap 89, ending his night. Todd Bodine assumed the lead and found himself in the wall just seven laps later, sending him tumbling in the points standings.

Hornaday’s victory allowed him to move into the points lead by 84 over Skinner, followed by Crafton, Busch and Bodine.

Results

* Denotes Rookie