Ron Hornaday Wins Battle Of The Veterans At Gateway

In sunny Madison, Illinois at Gateway International Raceway. Ron Hornaday, dominated the Camping World 200 presented by Honda Power Equipment leading 112 of 160 laps.

It was Hornaday's fourth win of 2008, his 37th career win and first win at Gateway. More importantly, he made up 30 points on Johnny Benson and now's only 89 points behind.

Dennis Setzer was the pole sitter for the race and Hornaday starting next to him as the outside pole position.

From the drop of the green flag it was all Hornaday. Who passed Setzer coming off of turn two on the opening lap. Like with every truck race you had some great three-wide racing in the early laps.

The best pass of the race, despiteHornaday's racing winning pass. Came early on the Lap No. 3, when Rick Crawford made a three wide pass of both Bobby East and Todd Bodine for fifth place.

On the very next lap, Bodine would make slight contact with Crawford. Causing Crawford's F-150 to wiggle, brush the wall and he'd keep right on truckin'. Crawford would drive to deep, with Bodine hot on his heels on Lap 5, bounce off the wall. He lost the position, but would keep on racing. 

The first caution flew on Lap Six, for Bobby East. East wrecked his Zaxby Ford coming off of turn two, he spun hitting the inside wall on the back stretch.

On the Lap 10 restart, Setzer put pressure on Hornaday the leader. But Setzer would back off, when it looked like if he completed the pass. The end result would have lead to contact, between the two who where racing to close in turn two and possibly wrecking both of them.

On Lap 11, Bodine would cruise right by Setzer for second and started to catch up to the leader, Hornaday.

Hornaday although leading. Both Bodine and Setzer are running faster in second and third. But Hornaday had his No. 33 Camping World Silverado truck down on the white line in the turns and neither could do anything to pass him.

On Lap 15, Benson finally after a three lap battle would pass Brian Scott for eighth place.

On Lap 18, Hornaday would build up a half second lead on Bodine in second. Closer to a second lead on Setzer in third.

The second caution flag flew on Lap 20. For Marc Mitchell spun his No. 15 Hyprene Ergon Tundra due to a cut left rear tire.

Everybody but Mike Skinner would pit. Some getting just fuel, making adjustments, other two or four tires.

Hornaday would get fuel only, but his pit crew did jack up the truck and pull out a spring rubber from the right rear. Resulting in him coming off pit road in 3rd.

Jack Sprague would be the first truck off of pit road. But while Mike Skinner would restart good on the Lap 26 restart. Hornaday would end up passing his teammate Spraguecoming off of turn two for second place.

It was a great battle watching Skinner leading, with the two Kevin Harvick, Inc. teammates trying to chase him down.

But it did get a little intense between the KHI teams. On Lap 33, Sprague in 3rd would draft up to Hornaday's bumper causing the No.33 truck to wiggle. But Hornaday would gather it up and keep it from spinning or hitting the wall.

On the very next lap, Hornaday was signaling with his hand to Sprague and KHI spoke to Sprague over the radio.

The battle would continue between Skinner and Hornaday for the lead. Speedtv mentioned how this battle started back in 1994 and it's cool to see them still going at it.

Hornaday would eventually pass Skinner on lap 42. Skinner who dominated most of 2007, would lead for 18 laps, increasing his laps led total in 2008 to just 36 laps. A lap later Sprague would pass Skinner for second place. 

On lap 46, Michael Annett would pit unexpectedly for what he thought was a cut tire. his pit crew got him off pit road quickly changing his tires losing a lap. But Annett would radio to his team that the car still wasn't handling right.

It marked the second race in a row, for the talented Annett to have problems with his No. 22 Pilot truck.

On Lap 53, Sprague in second, would put heat on Hornaday who was leading. Only to have KHI remind him Hornaday needs to lead at least 81 laps to get the five bonus points for leading the most laps and to help him since he's running for the championship.

I'm sure if fortunes where reversed Hornaday would help Sprague without being asked by the team to do so. That's why he's such a popular driver being a fan favorite, setting himself apart from most drivers and one young guns can learn from.

Setzer so far looks like the only truck that can run with either KHI truck.

Brian Scott been running really well so far, staying in the top ten and on lap 61 he's running in seventh. Looks like BDR, found another young talent to develop in the CTS.

The caution came out also on Lap 61 for the third time. For debris, saving Mike Skinner who didn't pit with everyone else on the first caution on Lap 20.

The top five coming off of pit road where: Sprague leading, Hornaday in second, Bodine in third, Darnell in fourth and Starr in fifth. Also Benson and Braun would have contact on pit road. Resulting in Benson having damage to his driver door have a crinkle in it and Braun damaged his right-side splitter. Both would continue on having top ten finishes.

On the Lap 65, restarted Sprague would take the green flag leading. But Hornaday known as "Mr. Restart" would pass his teammate going down the back stretch and would resume the lead.

After 72 laps, Hornaday's leading with Sprague second, Bodine third, Darnell fourth andSkinner in fifth rounding out the top five.

Hornaday would be leading at the halfway point on Lap 80. While Marc Davis making his CTS debut has been running most of the day in the top twenty. In the No. 81 for Randy Moss Motorsports, he also has communicated well with his team.

On Lap 85, Benson's truck was running loose in seventh place, nothing he can do about it and hang in their till they needed to pit again.

Speedtv commented on the new engine rule. Mentioning that NASCAR four times this season took engines back to Concord, NC to test the engines. They compiling information, saw a trend happening with the data and made the changes to the tapered spacer.

While right now just Toyota is effected by it. But once GM's new engine is approved they also would be in the same boat as Toyota and need to run a tapered spacer with smaller holes in it.

Now back to the race, Hornaday would continue to lead when the fourth caution flag flew out for debris. Due to a spring rubber laying on the access road to the pits.

Everyone would pit, several drivers took just two tires. Skinner would be the first truck off of pit road, but due to loose lug nuts came back to pit road and restarted in 24th place.

Benson due to Skinner's misfortunes took over the lead after pitting taking two-tires, Setzer in second also took two-tires, Crafton in third took two-tires, and Cook in fourth took two-tires. The drivers starting with Darnell in fifth all took four tires, Hornaday was sixth, Sprague in seventh and Bodine in eighth.

While exiting the pits, Hornaday would squeeze Sprague his KHI teammate into a tire barrier on pit road. It really was due to the tight quarters on pit road.

53 Laps to go, Benson is the new leader only taking right-sides and would retart good against Setzer in second place.

With 51 Laps to go, Hornaday would pass Darnell for fourth but barely cleared Darnell's truck. Darnell would move to the bottom of the track trying to re-pass Hornaday but couldn't make it stick.

With 50 Laps to go, Dennis Setzer would pass Benson taking the lead. As the fifth caution flag flew when Rob Brent in the No. 19 Brad Keselowski Racing truck. Brent backed his truck into the outside wall hard, after being tapped from behind in turn three.

With 40 Laps to go, Setzer would restart good, pull away by a few truck lengths on Benson. The caution would come out for the sixth time, just as it looked like Hornaday had passed Crafton for third place.

This caution resulted in a big pile-up of trucks, causing a few drivers to have their nights over and a few to continue on with minor damage to their trucks.

Those involved in the pile-up where: Jason White, Colin Braun, Terry Cook, Brian Scott, Chad McCumbee, Ted Musgrave, Andy Lally, Rick Crawford and Jack Smith.

With 35 Laps to go, Setzer restarted good, pulls away from Benson. Hornaday would pass Crafton for third. Two laps later Hornaday would catch and pass Benson rather easily for second.

With 35 Laps to go Hornaday would reel in Setzer, pass him for the lead and make his crew chief's Rick Ren four tire call on the last pit stop. Look like the call of the race.

With 28 Laps to go, David Starr would make contact with Rick Crawford. Spin out on the back stretch and hit the inside wall hard. Resulting in the seventh caution flag of the night.

After 134 of 160 laps, Hornaday's leading, Setzer's running in second, Benson's running third, Bodine's in fourth and Darnell's runningin fifth.

With 24 Laps to go, Hornaday would restart good and pull away a couple of truck lengths away from Setzer in second.

The next nine laps featured some great racing between the top four drivers, but no positions changed.

With 15 laps to go, the eighth caution flag flew for Justin Marks in the No. 9 truck. Who lost it spinning hitting the outside wall.

With 10 Laps to go, on the restart, Hornaday would pull away from Setzer. He would feel no pressure, continue to pull away from Setzer and would go onto claim his first victory at Gateway International Raceway. 

Hornaday would become the tenth different winner in the last eleven races at Gateway. He also would win in a brand new car and the third different truck he's won in.

Now setzer should be happy with second, plus with winning the pole. When you consider his team parking the No. 4 truck for now. Could have been a major distraction for him.

Benson would finish third, lead eight laps and collect five bonus points for leading and still has a 94 points lead on Hornaday.

Todd Bodine would finish fourth and Jack Sprague ended up rounding out the top five.

Hornaday would collect the checkers, thrill the fans at Gateway with some burnouts and stop briefly on pit road to give his wife a kiss on his way to victory lane.

It was rumored that Hornaday who took a few moments to get out of his truck at victory lane. Had a pencil stub in hand crossing off Gateway on his list of tracks he needed to still win at.

Just kidding, he was busy unbuckling everything to climb out to the cheers of the fans, and would give the camouflage Honda generator a pull that he won for winning the race.

The points are now. Benson leading Hornaday by 94 and Crafton by 199 points.

Here's how the four development drivers I wrote about in Issue No. 8 of my Craftsman Update did.

Marc Davis, ran a great debut race without getting into trouble. Stayed on the lead lap and finished in sixteen.

Chrissy Wallace, also ran really well, without getting into trouble. Stayed on the lead lap and finished nineteenth.

Mike Annett, would have problems with his trucks handling, end up three laps down and finish in twenty-fourth place.

Bobby East, would bring out the first caution on the sixth lap, would finish the night racing with a damaged truck. He ended up three laps down and finished in twenty-fifth place.

Here's the top ten results from the Camping World 200 presented by Honda Power Equipment.

1. Ron Hornaday

2. Dennis Setzer

3. Johnny Benson

4. Todd Bodine

5. Jack Sprague

6. Erik Darnell

7. Mike Skinner

8. Rick Crawford

9. Colin Braun

10. Ted Musgrave