Hornaday wins three NASCAR Truck Series races in a row

Ron Hornaday Jr. won his third NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in a row on Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway. It gives him four wins on the season and a commanding lead in the Truck Series standings.
Not only did Hornaday win the Truck Series race in Kentucky, Mark Martin gave the three-time Truck Series champ credit for helping him win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway in Illinois. Martin, who drives the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorspors, said he learned a few tricks on how to get the most out of his restarts from Hornaday. Martin called Hornaday the restart king after the race. Hornaday has developed a reputation for being a master of restarts, a skill he learned racing late models at Saugus Speedway years ago.
“I don’t know that I would say I’m the king at anything,” said Hornaday, who drives for Kevin Harvick Inc. “I appreciate that people like Mark Martin watch me to gain pointers. Restarts have always been something that I worked on. I think I have a pretty good system right now. As competitive as the Truck Series is, you have to have something up your sleeve to get an advantage. I guess restarts are my thing.”
Hornaday will be looking for his fourth win in a row at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis on Friday night. He has two Truck Series wins at O’Reilly Raceway Park. They came 10 years apart. He won his first Truck Series race there in 1997 while driving for the late Dale Earnhardt. He won again in 2007.
“I really like racing at ORP and tracks like it. I grew up racing on tracks very similar to it,” Hornaday said. “I think knowing how to race guys and knowing when to pass on short tracks has been the key to my success. Luck has had a lot to do with it too.”
This is the second time Hornaday has put together a three-race winning streak in the Truck Series. He won three races in a row in 1997 when he won at The Milwaukee Mile, Loiusville Motor Speedway and Colorado National Speedway. He has recorded wins at The Milwaukee Mile, Memphis Motorsports Park and Kentucky Speedway in his current streak.

Photo: Ron Hornaday Jr. crosses the finish line and wins his third consecutive race of the 2009 season. (Photo Credit: John Sommers II/Getty Images for NASCAR)