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Trucks Kick Off The Weekend At Texas
posted 11/03/09
9:44 pm
Ron Hornaday Jr. continues to hold a commanding lead in the championship standings, despite a 17th-place finish last Saturday at Talladega. Matt Crafton finished 10th and trimmed Hornaday's lead to 202 points.
Hornaday won both races at Texas in 2008. Earlier this year, he led the most laps there with 55, but experienced an oil pump belt issue in the closing laps, resulting in a 19th-place finish.
"Texas has become a really good place for us over the last few years," Hornaday said. "I used to really struggle at Texas, but [crew chief] Rick Ren and the No.33 guys have really gotten a good set up for the track."
While Hornaday sits in a comfortable spot in the drivers' standings, the battle for the owners' championship is shaping up to be a good one. Kyle Busch picked up his sixth victory of the season last Saturday at Talladega and cut Kevin Harvick Inc.'s lead in the owners' points to just 100. Busch has won the last four races he's entered with the No.51 Billy Ballew Motorsports team.
"Crafton isn't our worry," said Hornaday, who is on the cusp of winning his record fourth Truck Series championship. "We are worried about [Busch]. He is fighting for the owners' points, and he's the guy we're racing too."
Hornaday has six victories this season, including five in a row from June to August.
Busch has yet to win a truck race at Texas, but finished second to Hornaday in both events there last year.
Todd Bodine leads all drivers with five victories at Texas. Bodine won there in June. He conserved his fuel long enough to lead the final 43 laps and become the first driver to win five truck races at the same track.
Bodine's 10 of 17 career victories have come at 1.5-mile ovals, making him the series' winningest driver on intermediate tracks.
Mike Skinner, currently third in points (-327), has five poles at Texas, including four in a row from 2004-06. Skinner has yet to win in 11 starts at Texas, but has finished no worse than 11th there.
Thirty-seven teams are on the preliminary entry list for the WinStar World Casino 350K.
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