Ron Hornaday to Pull Double Duty at Indianapolis

For the first time in 2010, Ron Hornaday will pull double duty at O'Reilly Raceway Park, driving both the Nationwide Series No. 33 Jimmy John's Chevrolet and the Camping World Truck Series No. 33 Georgia Boot Chevrolet Silverado for Kevin Harvick Incorperated.

“Double duty is usually fun, unless you were with me at Milwaukee last year,” said Hornaday in the team preview. “The Truck race was cancelled due to rain so I ended up running the Truck and Nationwide race on the same day. I was pretty tired after that experience, but we won the Truck race and finished ninth in the Nationwide Series race.  I also ran the Nationwide car here at ORP last year and we ran sixth. I’m looking forward to running both races; it will be a busy but fun weekend.”

Hornaday has only ran one Nationwide race this year, which came at Road America where he finished 12th.

In nine previous Nationwide Series starts at ORP, Hornaday has one win, two top-fives and five top-10 finishes.

In the Camping World Truck Series, Hornaday currently sits sixth in the standings, 261 points out of the lead, with no wins and six top 10s in 11 races.

In 10 previous Camping World Truck Series races at ORP, Hornaday has three wins (1997, 2007, 2009), seven top fives and seven top 10s.

“ORP is a traditional short track," said Hornaday. "I love racing there because it reminds me a lot of the tracks I grew up racing on. It eats up tires, it gets hot during the day and gains grip at night.  It’s just a fun place to race at.”

Could this be the track that he turns his championship hopes around?

It could be. A lot of people are counting him out and a win could do wonders at this point.

Last year, he was successful as he won his fourth consecutive race on the schedule. He backed it up with another win at Nashville Superspeedway a week later to become only the third driver in NASCAR history to win five consecutive races.

“It was really strange," said Hornaday in the team preview when asked what it was like. "I knew when we won that race that we had done something incredible but the impact of it did not sink in really with any of the No. 33 team members until later. I think we were all riding the victory high. Then it ended after Nashville, but we went on to win the championship so we were content with that. Looking back on it this season I can’t believe we were ever in that position to begin with. The competition is so tough and it is any driver’s race week-in and week-out. Skinner probably should have won that race last year but we pulled it out somehow. I just continue to be reminded how lucky I am to be with such a competitive team.”

Another win could happen as the chassis that they are taking to ORP is chassis No. 43, which is the same chassis that owner Kevin Harvick won with at Martinsville and Hornaday finished third with at Nashville.