The Camping World Truck Series looks to return to Darlington Raceway for the first time in six years and Kevin Harvick Incorporated drivers Ron Hornaday and Ken Schrader look to tame the track that is known to be “too tough to tame”.
Ron Hornaday enters the weekend seventh in points, looking to gain ground on the leaders.
“I’m really going into Darlington and treating it like a brand-new track,” Hornaday said in the team preview. “Even though I’ve been there before in the Cup Series and Nationwide Series cars, I think driving a truck around the track is going to be really different. We are really not sure what to expect. It will be interesting trying to adjust from day time to night time. We are going to take some notes that our Nationwide Series team collected earlier this year and try to make some assumptions based off their notes.”
In nine Nationwide Series starts at Darlington Raceway, Hornaday has two top 10s and an average finish of 19.6.
Despite the past not being so bleak for Hornaday, he is excited about the weekend based on the last time the Camping World Truck series was there in 2003.
“I’m really glad they added Darlington back to the Truck Series schedule,” he said. “The best Truck Series race that I have watched in a really long time was the race they had in Darlington in 2003, when Bobby Hamilton and Ted Musgrave battled side-by-side all the way to the checkered flag. Hamilton barely beat Ted over the line, it was an awesome race. I think that the fans are going to love seeing the Truck Series back at Darlington. I’m glad they added the track back to the schedule, so I have a chance to race here.”
Hornaday will have E-Z-Go on the side of his truck, which is the same sponsor car owner Kevin Harvick had on his truck when he won earlier this year at Atlanta. The Atlanta, Georgia based company E-Z-Go will be debuting their new street legal golf car vehicle, the 2Five on the quarter panels of Hornaday’s truck.
Hornaday will be driving chassis No. 048 at Darlington Raceway, which is the same truck that he drove last weekend at Nashville Superspeedway to a sixth place finish.
Meanwhile, teammate Ken Schrader will be driving chassis No. 042, which has been to victory lane twice in 2010. Harvick drove the chassis to the win at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March while Elliott Sadler drove it to his first career Truck Series victory at Pocono in July.
“Darlington is a track where I have a lot of Cup Series starts, so I’m pretty familiar with its characteristics and challenges,” Schrader said in the team preview. “Some people call that ‘character,’ others call it frustrating, but make no mistake about it, Darlington is unique. There will never be another track like it because I believe they broke the mold, and a lot of drivers breathed a sigh of relief.”
In 43 Sprint Cup Series starts at Darlington, Schrader has three poles, five top fives, 13 top 10s, an average finish of 18.1, and has led 206 laps.
Stubb’s Legendary Bar-B-Q will adore the quarter panels of Schrader’s No. 2 Chevrolet Silverado this weekend at Darlington. Stubb’s made their debut with KHI at Gateway International Raceway in July where Kevin Harvick won the pole and the race in dominating fashion.
If track history means anything and the good luck charm of the sponsors plays a part, both KHI drivers should be upfront in the thick of it to win.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Saturday:
Practice: 9:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. EST
Final Practice: 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. EST
Qualifying: 4:15 p.m. EST
Race: 7:30 p.m. EST (Speed will broadcast live at 7:00 p.m.; Motor Racing Network (MRN) will broadcast live at 7:15 p.m.)
