On a perfect Kentucky night to quote Speed TV's Michael Waltrip. Ron Hornaday Jr. had to earn the win in Saturday nights Built Ford Tough 225 at Kentucky Speedway.
Hornaday won his third consecutive race, held off Mike Skinner winning by 0.136 seconds for his 43rd career win and fourth of the season.
It was his second win at Kentucky, he now has for the second time in his storied career that he's won three in a row and the stellar work of Horn's pit crew making all the right adjustments benefited him with this win.
The big news prior to the race start. Kevin Harvick Inc. prior to the start of qualifying during inspection, Hornaday's No. 33 had it's rear end housing confiscated due to not being of specifications and we'll know Tuesday what the penalty will be.
According to Speed's Ray Dunlap, it was offset, outside the provisions of NASCAR's rulebook.
Hornaday in the No. 33 Longhorn Chevrolet, won the pole and it was his fourth of the year and Brian Scott in the No. 16 Albertson's Toyota starts on in the outside pole position.
Ricky Carmichael in the No. 4 Monster Energy Drink Chevrolet starts third, Brian Ickler in the No. 51 Red Top Auto Auction Toyota starts fourth and Todd Bodine in the No. 30 Copart Toyota starts fifth.
The pit window tonight is 55 to 65 laps, 36 trucks started the race and at race start it was 68*.
On the Lap 1 start, Hornaday would take the green flag but run side by side with Scott and coming back to the strip Horn would be leading by a nose width.
On Lap 2, Hornaday and Scott battled back and forth into the lead, but coming back to the stripe Scott would be leading.
On Lap 3, they are still be battling side by side, with Scott lead the lap by a nose.
On Lap 4, both Scott and Hornaday are still battling side by side, both at different times of each of the first four laps have swapped the lead.
On Lap 5, Scott would pull away from Hornaday by a couple of truck lengths. Timothy Peters in the No. 17 Strutmasters.com Toyota started ninth and has worked his way up to third.
By Lap 8, Scott would have a lead of 0.477 seconds on Hornaday and close to 2 seconds on Peters in third.
After 10 Laps, the top five was; Scott leading, Hornaday in second, Peters in third, Stacy Compton in the No. 60 SafeAuto Insurance Toyota in fourth and Carmichael in fifth.
On Lap 12, Scott would be leading Hornaday by 0.712 seconds, and has a 2.5 seconds lead on Peters in third.
By Lap 21, Scott lead was 0.706 seconds over Hornaday in second, but Horn had reeled him in and lost ground due to getting around a lapped truck that made him slow down.
By Lap 26, Scott widened his lead to 0.966 seconds over Hornaday in second and Peters in third is 2.9 seconds back.
On Lap 27, the best racing on the track is Carmichael and Bodine battling for sixth and seventh.
On Lap 28, Scott still leads Hornaday by 0.377 seconds, but Horn has adjusted his line and continues to reel in the leader.
After 30 Laps, the top five was; Scott leading, Hornaday second, Compton third, Peters fourth and Ickler fifth.
The first caution came out on Lap 35, for Scott who seconds after losing the lead to Hornaday blew a right front tire, bounced off of the wall and had contact with Compton.
David Starr in the No. 24 Zachry Toyota would be the Aaron's Lucky Dog winner under the first caution.
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