Hornaday has more than racing on his mind in Texas

Ron Hornaday Jr. will start fourth in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday night.
But he had more than racing on his mind after qualifying.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people at Fort Hood,” said Hornaday, whose No. 33 Chevrolet Silverado is sponsored in part by the Veteran of Foreign Wars.
Fort Hood was the site of a deadly shooting Thursday. An Army major gunned down at least a dozen people and wounded more than 30 others in a deadly rampage at the Army outpost in Texas.
Clearly, Hornaday's thoughts are on a bigger picture as he prepares for the race at Texas. He is the leader in the Truck Series standings and he can pretty much wrap up his fourth Truck Series championship with a solid finish in Friday night’s race.
“We have to finish this one,” Hornaday said. “We have to finish up front. We know the truck runs good here and we know we have to get a good finish. The last time the oil pump belt came off but we won the two races before. We just have to have Lady Luck on our side and be optimistic and hopefully we will get a good finish out of it.”
Matt Crafton, who is in second place in the Truck Series standings and trails Hornaday by 202 points, won the pole for the Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
“Our truck is very, very good,” Crafton said. “It is obviously the best thing I have ever driven here. I don’t say that very often. I can honestly say that. I have had good trucks in the past but this is the best truck I have ever driven, especially on a mile and a half track. Hopefully, it will be as good tomorrow night. Hopefully the demons won’t come out that we always joke about.”

Photo: Matt Crafton (center), driver of the No. 88 Menards/McGuire-Nicholas Chevrolet, talks with Brian Scott, driver of the No. 16 Albertson's Toyota (left) and David Gilliland (right), driver of the No. 98 Menards Chevrolet, in the garage area during Thursday's practice for Friday's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series WinStar World Casino 350 at Texas Motor Speedway. Gilliland, who split practice time with Crafton in the No. 98 during the first practice, had the fastest time for most of the final practice (179.766 mph) until Crafton eclipsed his time with a posting of 180.180 mph. (Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Crafton can't take advantage of Hornaday's misfortune

Ron Hornaday was collected in a late wreck in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, but it didn't hurt him that much in the Truck Series standings.
Matt Crafton, the second-place driver in the Truck Series standings, couldn't take advantage of Hornaday's hit and finished 10th in the Talladega race.
Hornaday ended up 17th after returning to the race for the final laps with a badly damaged truck.
“It’s Talladega,” said Hornaday following the race. “I’m not really sure how we were involved in that wreck. Before I knew what was happening we were in it. I’m really proud of this No. 33 Copart team for never giving up and working to get the truck back out on the track to finish with so few laps left. We will just go to Texas next week and try to get back what we lost.”
Hornaday has a 202-point lead over Crafton after the Talladega race.
Kyle Busch won the race and his Billy Ballew Racing team has a slim chance of winning the owner's championship. Busch's teammate, Aric Almirola, finished second, followed by Todd Bodine in third.
"I owe everything to Aric Almirola today," Busch said on Saturday after the race. "From that last pit stop to the end, I told him that, if he just stayed with me, they wouldn't be above to beat the 15 (Almirola) and the 51 (Busch). Awesome job to Aric. He can take half of my pay after today."
DeLana Harvivck, the owner of Hornaday's Kevin Harvick Inc. team, has a 100-point lead over Ballew in the owner's standings with three races remaining.

Photo: Rick Crawford, driver of the No. 14 Circle Bar/International Truck Engine Ford, gets caught up in an incident with Mike Skinner, driver of the No. 5 PC Miler Navigator Toyota, during the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday in Talladega, Ala. (Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

Hornaday now second in Truck Series standings

Todd Bodine won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. He won for a Truck Series record fifth time at Texas, breaking the mark held by Brendan Gaughan, a driver from Las Vegas and a NASCAR West Series champ.
“A good friend of mine told me last week that he was rooting for me to finish second, but not win," Bodine said. "Sorry Brendan, I had to beat you bud. It’s incredible. This truck right into that last run we were just too loose the whole race and (Mike Hillman) Junior (crew chief) made some great calls at the end and fixed it up to make it run. This is an awesome night.”
Matt Crafton finished second and took over the lead in the Truck Series standings for the first time in his career.
"That is cool for now. I mean, I am just a little bit aggravated because I know how good of a truck we had and I have always wanted to win here at Texas," Crafton said after the race on Friday night. "I want to be over there where that blue truck (Bodine's) is right now. These guys did an awesome job in the pits. I mean awesome, truck here. When we unloaded it, it was awesome and it was good at the end of the race too.
"I can honestly say without a doubt this is the most diappointing second place ever. This Australian Gold Chevy Silverado, I mean, it was awesome, these guys in the pits. In the beginning we were just a little bit off and they made two air pressure adjustments and it just brought this thing to life."
Ron Hornaday Jr. finished 19th in the race at Texas and dropped to second in the Truck Series standings. He trails Crafton by 30 points.

Photo: Todd Bodine does a burnout to celebrate winning the WinStar World Casino 400 at Texas Motor Speedway, his second victory of the season. (Photo Credit: Chris Trotman/Getty Images)