Ron Hornaday Jr.'s WinStar World Casino 350K Race Preview

It's redemption Friday for Kevin Harvick Inc.'s Ron Hornaday Jr and his No. 33 VFW Chevrolet team, under the lights at Texas Motor Speedway for the WinStar World Casino 350K.

You see, Horn swept both races at TMS in 2008. In the Spring race earlier in the season, he led 55 laps, was eight laps away from his third straight win at the track, and suffered oil-pump-belt failure and finished 19th.

This time around they want to finish the race in victory lane and not only pad the points lead, but also the owner points lead and allow them to wrap it up at Phoenix next week.

So far in 2009, Horn has run well on the 1.5 mile tracks and has compiled—in eight races—three wins, two poles, four top fives, six top-10 finishes and led 325 laps.

One thing in Horn's favor is when you look at Loop Data Statistics since 2005 at TMS, he has some pretty impressive numbers; a rriver rating of 119.7 (second best), an average running position of 6.1 (third), a series-high 194 fastest laps run, a 91.3 percent with laps in the top 15 (second), and led the most laps 407.

So it's easy to see why Horn and his team are excited to be back racing again at Texas.

"Texas has become a really good place for us over the last few years. I used to really struggle at Texas, but Rick Ren (crew chief) and the No. 33 guys have really gotten a good set-up for the track. I'm excited to go back and try to get the finish we left there in the Spring."

Horn will be racing chassis No. 024 at Texas this weekend. It's gone to victory lane at Lowe's and it's last race was the Texas Spring race.

I think Horn will have another dominating performance, lead the most laps, and win it coming to the checkers cruising in the high-groove. But I'll be happy with any finish, as long as Horn pads both his points lead and the owner points lead.