Ron Hornaday wins the Built Ford Tough 225 World Camping Truck Series competition

Ron Hornaday has been running hot and fast on the Camping World Truck Series lately. Saturday night he continued his winning ways on the series by taking his third consecutive victory in the Camping World Truck Series Built Ford Tough 225 held at Kentucky Speedway. This win is the fourth of the Camping World Truck Series for Hornaday and extends his overall lead in the series over second place racer Matt Crafton to 96 points. Hornaday was patient and waited for his moment

and then with 24 laps remaining he made his move. The race had to be restarted on lap 127 of this 150-lap competition on a 1.5

mile track that has seen its share of winners and losers. Hornaday’s crew chief made a few more changes during this stop to fine tune a few things he had started tinkering with during the last pit stop and the changes made a difference as Hornaday’s truck was definitely faster after the last stop. Hornaday restarted sixth after the restart and used his racing ability and faster truck to pass Tayler

Malsam on the inside of Turn 2 and then Aric Almirola on the inside of Turn 4 to move into the lead with just 18 laps left in the Built Ford Tough 225.

Mike Skinner stayed close to the leaders in front of him until he saw his opportunity. He was able to pass his Randy Moss Motorsports teammate Malsam with just nine laps remaining and then lady luck helped him out when Todd Bodine had mechanical problems that allowed him to move into second place. Pulling close to Hornaday with just two turns left, he made his attempt to pass, but was unable to get past him on the outside.

Matt Crafton finished third in his Chevrolet, Timothy Peters managed to hang on for fourth, and Aric Almirola took fifth, while Brian Scott finished sixth. Ricky Carmichael had a good race and despite having a car that seemed slow, he managed seventh place, James Buescher finished eighth, David Starr ninth, and Dennis Setzer rounded out the top ten in the Camping World Series Built Ford Tough 225.

“Image: Zuma Press”

Post from: EveryJoe

Ron Hornaday Wins the Built Ford Tough 225

I’d like to welcome Bruce Simmons back to the forum this week as he is now officially back from his trip. Bruce, it’s good to have ya back. I’d also like to thank Roc for stepping up to the plate for us last week in his absence and keeping this alive. And, of course, with us as always is Charlie Turner from On Pit Row. Now, let’s get started.

At the end of April, future NFL Hall of Famer, Randy Moss, announced that he was looking to break into NASCAR as a team owner, more specifically in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2009. With Moss’ announcement immediately came speculation that he would get his team into a few races prior to the end of this season, and rumors began to fly surrounding the team’s manufacturer, sponsor, and affiliates. Many even believed that Moss would land one of the bigger stars from the Sprint Cup Series to debut his truck.

The rumors were finally laid to rest two months later when Moss announced that he had bought into Morgan-Dollar Motorsports as a part-owner, and that the team would be renamed Moss Motorsports. They renumbered the truck #81 in favor of Moss’ jersey number, and the new team debuted at Kentucky Speedway in July with Willie Allen behind the wheel, finishing 15th.

Things continue to evolve for the race team, however, as they have recently announced an agreement that will put two-time Sprint Cup champion, Jimmie Johnson, behind the wheel of the no. 81 truck at Bristol on August 20th. Johnson has never in his career competed in a Craftsman Truck race, and some feel that it may be the result of the partnership between Lowe’s – Johnson’s Sprint Cup sponsor – and Kobalt Tools, which will sponsor the #81 entry in the truck race.

Q: Is Randy Moss’ recent 50% purchase of what is now Moss Motorsports good for the sport?

TZ: I know there’s a lot of fans out there that probably only see this deal go down on the surface and immediately think to themselves, ‘oh, that’s crap’. Let me tell you, I don’t care if he’s white, black, or yellow, Randy Moss is a smart businessman, and he’s grown up an avid fan of racing. I also like the non-NASCAR star power that he brings to our sport, and it’s already taking its effect by putting Jimmie Johnson in a Craftsman Truck race for the first time in his career next month at Bristol. In my book, kudos to Randy Moss for venturing down this path.

Bruce:  I think it will bring a different demographic to the sport to some degree as Randy Moss fans might just tune in to see what this is about.  Right?  Maybe?  We can hope.  New fans are always a good thing, regardless of how many or few.

Charlie:  It is a step forward in NASCAR’s drive for diversity. But Randy Moss is an OWNER. He isn’t going to bring any star power to the sport beyond this initial slash of publicity as his new venture is announced. Do you doubt this. If so, name for me  – quick – three other Craftsman Truck team owners. If you can do it, look at the names and then quantify how many fans those owners bring to the races. Did Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman bring a bunch of Cowboys football fans to NASCAR? If Moss can hang in  for more than three years and build his team into something more than it is today, then he will have accomplished something significant.

Want more? The “Loose in Turn 3″ trio answers three questions each and every week, so be sure to check out the other sites to get the rest of our weekly discussion.

Over at On Pit Row, we answer “Should Tony Stewart look for the hot, young prospect, maybe someone from the open wheel ranks, instead of a current, high dollar star like Ryan Newman for his second car at Stewart-Haas?”

And, we conclude our talks over at Bruce’s Bits ‘n’ Pieces, where the question was posed, “With Tony Stewart acting out over in USAC, what’s that about? I thought he had gotten a grip on his outbursts? Do you think the stress of starting up a new team might be getting to him?”

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Randy Moss Runnin’ Loose in Turn 3 Along With Jimmie Johnson

Image details: Built Ford Tough 225 served by picapp.com

Johnny Benson won his second race of the season and took the points lead for the first time in 2008 after making a 4-wide pass with just 32 laps remaining in the Built Ford Tough 225 Saturday at Kentucky Speedway. As the field restarted on lap 119, Benson was third in line behind Bill Davis Racing teammate, Michael Annett, and Dennis Setzer, and the lapped truck of Chad Chaffin was on the inside. Benson and Setzer both attempted the pass on Michael Annett at the same time, and Chaffin moved to the bottom of the track as well in an effort to make the pass and get his lap back. In the end, though, it was Benson getting the spot and cruising through the final 32 circuits to pickup the win.

Annett finished second – 0.475 seconds behind Benson – in just his third Craftsman Truck Series start. Matt Crafton finished third, with Setzer in fourth, and David Starr rounded out the top-five finishers. Kyle Busch failed in his bid to get his 15th overall win of the season, as he finished sixth. Mike Skinner, Terry Cook, Marc Mitchell, and Ron Hornaday finished 7th through 10th.

Making his debut for the newly formed Moss Motorsports, Willie Allen started 20th and finished 15th. Jack Sprague’s tough luck this season continued with a 22nd place run after starting 5th. Erik Darnell’s no. 99 Roush-Fenway Ford was caught up in an earlier accident and finished a disappointing 29th. And, in her third Truck Series start, Chrissy Wallace made it through just 50 laps before finding an accident of her own, and she finished 33rd.

Johnny Benson climbed up three spots in the standings to take a 1 point lead over second place, Matt Crafton. Ron Hornaday’s top-ten effort wasn’t enough, as he dropped two spots down to third, where he sits just five points out of first. Rick Crawford and Mike Skinner each moved up a spot to fourth and fifth, respectively.

Complete Ford 225 Results.

Craftsman Truck Series Standings:

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Johnny Benson Wins at Kentucky With a Daring 4-Wide Pass

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It’s going to be a big weekend coming up for the Wallace’s as the NASCAR Nationwide Series makes a trip to St. Louis this weekend for the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 at Gateway International Raceway, hometown to brothers Mike and Kenny Wallace. Considered to be the home track for the Wallace family, the track has been kind enough to name the grandstands in Turns 1 and 2 after the Wallace’s, and even honored them by placing their name on the race itself during older brother, Rusty’s retirement year.

Despite all of the hometown recognition, though, a member of the Wallace family has never put a tally in the win column since the Nationwide Series began racing here back in 1997, but they’ll have a prime opportunity to change that this weekend. Mike Wallace is having one of his finer seasons as he currently sits 8th in points and would like nothing more than to notch one up here in front of his hometown fans. He nearly did just that back in 2005 when he finished 2nd here in an Evernham Motorsports car. Mike will also be an honorary guest at the St. Louis Cardinals game on Thursday where he will throw out the first pitch of the game.

Kenny Wallace will also attend the race, as will Steven Wallace, who will be driving for Rusty Wallace Inc, the team owned by his father, Rusty Wallace. That team is still looking for their first win of the season. Steven is currently 12th in the points standings, and Kenny is 18th. All three Wallace’s will also compete in a dirt track race at Tri-City Speedway on Friday in Pontoon Beach, IL.

Mike’s daughter, Chrissy Wallace, will be competing this weekend as well. Chrissy will make the third Craftsman Truck Series start of her career on Saturday in the Built Ford Tough 225 at Kentucky Speedway. To date, she’s finished 18th at Martinsville and 20th at the Milwuakee Mile.

Post from: EveryJoe

Big Weekend Ahead for the Wallace Bunch

Image details: New England Patriots Mini Camp served by picapp.com

After Super Bowl runner-up, Randy Moss, announced last April that his latest endeavours would include the creation of a full-time NASCAR Craftsmant Truck Series team, the star WR for the New England Patriots has indeed made good on his promise. Moss has announced that he will debut the #81 Moss Motorsports truck on July 19th at Kentucky Speedway for the Built Ford Tough 225, though the team’s manufacturer, sponsors, and even their driver have yet to be announced.

We do know that Moss has recently purchased a major portion of Morgan-Dollar Motorsports, a team that currently fields Willie Allen in the no. 46 Chevy in the series. There has been some speculation that the team could simply rename their existing operations as Moss Motorsports, but that has yet to be determined. Either way, this more than likely means that Moss has established a relationship with GM, and odds are that when the green drops at Kentucky, we’re probably going to be looking at a no. 81 Chevy somewhere on the track.

There are also rumors that the driver of the truck in the team’s debut race could very well be a “prominent” Sprint Cup standout. My first inclination would be that if this is in fact true, then it would probably be someone with some past experience in the Truck Series. But, as I skim through the current Cup roster, there’s no Chevy drivers that fit both bills, so really, I don’t even know where to speculate in terms of who that driver will be. If the GM thing doesn’t hold true, though, then I’d look for someone out of the Gibbs camp, probably Denny Hamlin. But, again, that’s all speculation.

Moss is expected to make an official announcement concerning the team’s plans in a press conference this Thursday at Daytona.

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Moss Motorsports Set to Debut #81 Truck at Kentucky