Ron Hornaday Wins O'Reilly 200 in Dominating Fashion

On a beautiful Saturday night under the lights at Memphis Motorsports Park, Ron Hornaday, in dominating fashion, led 139 of 204 laps on a 0.75 mile oval to win the O'Reilly 200.

It's his third win of '08 and his 36th career win in the Craftsman Truck Series. This win has Hornaday regaining the points lead by 27.

Johnny Benson came into the race the points leader and won the pole. According to a pit reporter from Speed, in the garage both Benson and Hornaday were favorites to win the race.

Bobby East started outside of the front row next to Benson.

From the drop of the green flag, Hornaday followed Benson and got around East. He tried for 43 laps to get around Benson until contact between the two gave Hornaday the lead on lap 44.

Hornaday, in the KHI Silverado, would hold onto the lead till a pit stop on lap 77. Hornaday, 17 laps later, regained the race lead. He would maintain the lead through several caution periods.

Most noticeable was Todd Bodine who had a whirlwind night, spinning three different times. He caused three of the first six cautions. But Bodine still salvaged a decent night, finishing 14th and losing two positions in the points. It could have been a lot worse than dropping from second to fourth.

The points leader, Johnny Benson, also had problems with his transmission on lap 83. He ultimately ended up parked with engine problems later on, resulting in a 33rd place finish. He dropped from first to third in points.

Ron Hornaday continued leading laps and maintaining his lead over Eric Darnell. With 20 laps to go, Darnell couldn't get any closer than cutting the lead under a second and it didn't matter. Hornaday put the pedal to the medal. At the final caution the lead was a little over a second again.

The final caution flag flew on lap 199 when a crash involving Ted Musgrave and Willie Allen brought out the ninth caution.

This resulted in a nine-minute red flag during which Darnell's crew chief Matt Puccia walked up to Hornaday's crew chief Rick Ren in the pits. Puccia asked if Erik could lead a lap for bonus points. Both had a good laugh over it. (Speed)

When the race resumed, it was a green-white-checkered finish. Hornaday brought the field slowly to the line and took off with the green flag waving. Eric Darnell never had a chance, with Matt Crafton right behind him in third, and Hornaday went on for the win.

Crafton finished third, moving into second place in the points, 27 behind Hornaday.

The rest of the Top 10 were:

Fourth—Rick Crawford

Fifth—David Starr

Sixth—Jack Sprague

Seventh—Mike Skinner

Eighth—Bobby East

Ninth—Shane Sieg

Tenth—Stacy Compton

It was Hornaday's second career win at Memphis Motorsports Park.  He won the first truck race there in 1998.

Hornaday did his normal victory burnouts, accepted the checker flag, and climbed out of the 33 truck saluting his fans.

In the winner's circle Hornaday was very excited about the trophy he won, called the Elvis Trophy. It's one of just 12 made and is very cool looking. It stands 27" tall, weighs 60 pounds, and is cast in bronze. (truckseries.com)

If you're interested in what it looks like, just Google "Elvis Trophy," click images and it will come up.

A note about the trophy: It's only being made for five years, starting in 2005. Each winner of the Summer Craftsman race and Fall Nationwide race will receive one. Two others made one each, and these went to Graceland and Memphis Motorsports Park. (truckseries.com)

Sources for article: Yahoo Sports, Speed, and truckseries.com