Hornaday wins the Kroger 200 at Martinsville

The brisk chill of a Martinsville morning in October wasn’t enough to cool the excitement of short-track truck racing Saturday. By drop of the green flag the temperature and the anticipation for Camping World Truck action were both on the rise.

Kyle Busch led the field to the green flag with his sixth season pole start. It wasn’t long however before the forces of KHI were bearing down upon him. Kevin Harvick and Ron Hornaday made their way to the front and for the first quarter of the race they seemed a dominate force to be reckoned with.

With a lot of new blood in the field the cautions began flying and through it all it was not leading the pack through the brunt of the short track furry but Todd Bodine.

With a load on his heart and on his mind Bodine raced his way from 24th starting spot to lead 83 of the afternoons 206 laps. The emotional favorite for Saturday’s victory started to fall of his pace in the closing laps and Hornaday and Busch surpassed Bodine to battle for the Grandfather clock.

As the No. 24 of Cody Cambensey spun on lap 198, it came down to a shootout battle between day’s three top trucks.

Hornaday, Busch, and Bodine restarted for a green-white-checkered finish each determined to push their trucks and their competitors as hard as they could while keeping the battle as clean as possible.

When the final flag flew it was Hornaday with the victory, Busch finished second, Bodine third.

“To win here at Martinsville … the grandfather clock…it’s a big deal,” said the 52-year-old Hornaday. “I’m pretty manly about stuff. I’ve won championships and not cried, but I had a tear in my eye today.”

Busch was disappointed with his second place finish, but congratulated the No. 33 of Hornaday and KHI for their Victory.

“Over all it was a good day.” Busch said. “We ran real competitive. I mean, we were right behind the 2 and the 33 for most of it trying to make our way back to the front, but getting there we were just too tight.”

Bodine retained the points lead with his third place finish, and after the race he spoke to the media about the race.

“We had a really good truck; it kind of went away a bit at the end. I was over driving it a bit probably.” Bodine said.

“This was one of the wild cards we were worried about, with points racing.”

Unofficial Race Results

Kroger 200, Martinsville Speedway

October 23, 2010 – Race 21 of 25