RON HORNADAY,
NO. 33 LONGHORN SILVERADO, FINISHED 2ND:
TALK ABOUT YOUR
RACE TODAY, IT LOOKED GREAT ON TV:
"It definitely was a good. Rick
(Ren, crew chief) had me out there on tires and just came in and put fuel
in there and I thought we were done. It started getting tight on me. I
don't know where it was, 60 laps after everybody else we did we
came in and put tires on and I had to start in the back like Mike. I was
really really happy with the way everybody raced today. I got in to
Benson (Johnny), but he knows why. I spun him around. I thought I had the
spot and he gave me the room and then he didn't like I wasn't
there and was there and spun him out. But, that is the only incident I
had all day. That is Martinsville. What the guys gave us, the lappers and
the way the race ran, and when I caught Mike (Skinner), he knew I had a
little fresher tires. Instead of holding us both us and playing bumper
tag, he let me go by. That is what this truck racing is all about in the
Camping World Series. Just a lot of great competitors and a lot of fun. I
will take second, I guess. Busch (Kyle) was up there slowing us down.
Kevin (Harvick) had a couple runs on him and Kevin backed up, he was
guarding the bottom pretty good which let me catch Kevin then Mike caught
me and it was going to be a four truck battle. They threw the yellows.
SKINNER INTERJECTS: "...I thought you and I was going to
have some old times, you and I was going to have some fun."
HORNADAY: "That is basically what I was thinking because they got
up there pretty, but I guess I gave them too much room. When I caught
them, I don't know why, but I knocked the nose in on the start, the
No. 15 missed a shift. I was just a little tight when I got right up on
them, other than that I was really rolling the center a lot better than
them guys but it I just couldn't pick up the gas like they did.
I'm going to work on that. Every time I come to Martinsville, I
keep saying that so I am going to fix my problem, it is not the
truck's problem.
"We definitely have to thank the fans for staying with us on
Saturday and then coming out here again today."
IF IT HADN'T BEEN KEVIN IN FRONT OF YOU, WOULD YOU HAVE BEEN ABLE
TO MAKE ANY KIND OF MOVE ON HIM?
"I didn't care who it was, I
was too busy watching Skinner lay back on me. So I looked in the mirror
to see how far back he was and Kevin took off. I would have gave him a
good run because I would roll up on him coming off of four going for the
white flag and the yellow came out with it. I was going to have to move
him out the way going in to one. He has done it to me before in the
Nationwide car; I can do it to him."
COULD YOU SEE WHAT KYLE (BUSCH WAS TRYING TO DO THERE AT THE END AND
COULD YOU SORT OF MAKE ANY SENSE OF IT?
"First of all, you race the
race like he did. He was out on longer tires than anybody else, he had
less fuel than anybody else and he was protecting the bottom so he was
slowing it up. He was kind of lucky that didn't happen 30 laps
earlier because he was really slowing the pace up and they were on a
different pit strategy than some of us. What he was doing was pretty
smart.
"I wasn't going to come down pit road, but my left side tires
did, so I did have to come down, so we were still talking about coming in
the pits. That is what is so bad about Martinsville, the commitment line
is far back and he was trying to rub his quarter panel off of his tire
and that is the old Saturday night race track how we learned how to try
to get fenders off. He didn't do anything wrong other than going
over the commitment line and I made sure I screamed about it because that
is one position. To get around Kyle Busch, he is a pretty tough
competitor to get around."
HOW MUCH FUN WAS TODAY?
"The biggest fun is to see when you walk
down the hill from the motorhome and see all the big haulers leave with
all the souvenirs and still see these fans sitting in the stands to watch
us race. That means a lot to me and I know it means a lot to Mike
because, it wasn't for the fans, we wouldn't be able to do
this. To come on a Monday and have such a great race with the rubber that
the Cup cars put down, I thought the guys did such a great job all day
long. The accidents were accidents, they weren't just somebody
running over somebody, they were actually short track racing
accidents."
AFTER KEVIN'S WIN IN THE NATIONWIDE RACE LAST WEEK, DID HE BRING
MOMENTUM TO THIS RACE?
"He is just having so much fun driving his
own equipment right now. With Ernie Cope over there, it has just changed
that program around. I am really kind of mad at him for winning because
it would have probably given me more chances to run a couple more races,
me and Cale Gale. But now with him winning that race, he wants to stay in
the car, he is going to run Nashville, he is going to run some other
races that he hadn't planned on doing. The momentum from Kevin
winning a race in his own equipment and seeing how much he has put in to
Kevin Harvick, Inc. from where the shop came from a few years ago, it
really means a lot to him."
DO YOU WATCH HIM ON SUNDAY AND HOPE HE DOES WELL BECAUSE I DON'T
WANT HIM TO BE ANGRY WHEN HE GETS IN THE TRUCK ON A RACE LIKE THIS THAT
COMES AFTER THE CUP RACE?
"We have a Monday morning meeting so I
watch to see if he does well on Sunday, too. I thought he ran good
yesterday, just a matter of where you come out in the pits and who you
are behind, they just couldn't get a handle on it. Jimmie Johnson
was on a roll yesterday, I learned a lot by watching it. I was lifting
early and doing what I had to do, but when put fuel in and no tires; I
kinda burned the brakes up a little bit then. That probably ruined to win
the race for me because I was good enough earlier in the race to go up on
the outside of them guys and at least give them a challenge and make them
pinch it down. Heck, it was just so fun."
-credit: gm racing
