After a very exciting race at Kansas Speedway last Saturday the NASCAR Camping World Truck series heads to Texas for a Friday night battle under the lights at Texas Motor Speedway.
The fireworks in the garage last weekend after the race actually moved the spotlight from what was a very challenging day for Ron Hornaday and his Kevin Harvick Inc. team.
Earlier in the week they were docked 25 points for a illegal part after moving to within just one point of the series lead.
After starting fifth he struggled with the handling of his truck and then radioed in and told his crew he had a tire going down.
Soon that tire completely gave out and Hornaday put his truck hard into the wall. He would finish 30th on the day.
This weekend Hornaday will be looking to climb back into the championship picture he is now sixth in the standings and 56 points behind leader Johnny Sauter.
At TMS the numbers are very good for Hornaday. His average start is 7.4 and his average finish is 10th. This will be his 17th start at TMS and he swept the races here in 2008.
Leading into last weekend’s race at Kansas Hornaday had made a furious climb up the standings so their 30th place finish is a set back. The veteran driver and his crew chief Jeff Hensley know they cannot afford any Texas size mistakes going forward.
“We are at a point now where we can’t afford to stumble. That test saved us time at track because we now know that combination isn’t going to be best for that track. We have really worked hard on our down force program and we are taking on of our best down force pieces in Chassis No. 46. Ron won both races back in 2008, and we’re hoping to do the same this year.”
For rookie driver Cole Whitt his season hasn’t gone as many expected and that is a good thing. Whitt has had a very strong rookie season with an average finish of 10.1. He hasn’t finished worse than 22nd and that was at Daytona.
Whitt sitting second in the standings coming into TMS is only 12 points behind Sauter.
His first visit to the track will for sure be an educational one as TMS is one of the fastest tracks on the circuit.
Sauter meanwhile is looking to pad his points lead this weekend. This will be his fifth time coming to TMS in a truck and his average there is an impressive 5.4.
Last season he earned to runner up finishes and that means Sauter can’t wait to get to Texas.
Texas is a great track for me. It's all about track position there, and you don't want to work up from the middle of the field. We've always run up front there. The goal with my crew chief, Joe Shear, Jr. is to run up front from the get go. I'm hoping to build on the finishes we had there last year for sure - twice we finished in second, and we had the truck to win. I'm pretty motivated to get to Texas right now."
My drivers to watch this weekend are Sauter, Austin Dillon and Whitt.
The WinStar World Casino 400k is Friday night at 9ET on SPEED.
photo: http://www.johnny-sauter.com/
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