This weekend at Talladega Super Speedway the Camping World Truck Series will be back on track. Last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, it was Ron Hornaday who was the class of the field and took home the trophy.
His win propelled him back into championship contention and now sits just 21 points back with four races to go.
His fourth win of the season sees him within the title race and this weekend at Talladega surviving the race could bolster is title hopes even more.
In last years race he finished 21st after running well in the top five for much of the day. He ended up in a nine car incident that saw Hornaday on his roof.
Hornaday is still searching for his first win at Talladega and with recent momentum on his side if he can avoid the big one, Hornaday could close the gap on the leaders.
“I’m looking forward to be back in the No. 2 truck this weekend. With four races to go, Talladega is a track where we will just have to hold our breath all weekend and hope we don’t get caught in the big one. We are in the midst of this championship battle and would really like to make it out of Talladega with momentum. I haven’t won at Talladega yet so that would be an even bigger motivation step for this No. 2 Bad Boy Buggies team.”
One of the drivers that Hornaday is chasing is Austin Dillon who held the points lead taking the green at LVMS.
Within a handful of laps he hit the wall hard, suffered damage to the front of his truck and wound up finishing 20th on the day.
While he has a five point edge over James Beuscher who struggled himself last weekend, Dillon can’t afford any more troubles particularly with the top five separated by 25 points.
“Talladega will be interesting, for sure. I love the track. It’s fast and smooth and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series puts on a good show there. From what I remember, the finish last year was wild. We circled Talladega at the beginning of the year as a track that could have a huge impact on the championship standings. We’re in a really close points race so a good finish at Talladega could be key.”
Dillon only has one start at Talladega where he finished eighth last fall still there is no guarantees of a repeat performance.
Any driver can win at Talladega which makes picking a winner for this race all the more difficult. Still, there is always a guy holding the trophy in victory lane no matter how crazy the race could be.
My pick to win on Saturday is Ron Hornaday. He has momentum on his side and while he has never won at Talladega before, he is veteran racer, smart racer and I think can continue his climb to title number five.
Talladega is the wildcard race of final four races this season for the CWTS. At any point in time you could be leading the race and then fall back outside the top 10.
We know the big one is always a possibility but it will be the driver on Saturday that can not only show patience but time the final pass just right.
This title can’t be won here at Talladega but for the top five drivers in the hunt it sure can be loss on Saturday.
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