Hornaday pitted from the lead with 16 to go for his final pit stop of the night and as green flag pit stops cycled through, Hornaday reclaimed the lead with 10 to go and fought off a hard charging Austin Dillon to win at Kentucky for the third time in his career.
“This is so awesome,” said an elated Hornaday in victory lane. “I can’t say enough about Kevin (Harvick) and Delana (Harvick), believing in me and putting me in the 2 truck. Just got our 50th win, that’s pretty darn cool.”
21 year old James Buescher finished third and now sits just three points behind Dillon in the points race. Nelson Piquet Jr. finished fourth with Brian Ickler in fifth. Ricky Carmichael, Todd Bodine, Cole Whitt, Dakoda Armstrong and David Starr rounded out the top 10.
Several title contenders saw their hopes at a title fade slightly on Saturday.
Parker Kligerman saw his night end when Miguel Paludo got loose underneath him on lap 51. Paludo slid up the track into Kligerman, sending both competitors hard into the wall to bring out the fourth caution of the night. Max Papis attempted to avoid the two stalled drivers but slammed hard into Kligerman, also ending his night. Papis finished 28th with Kligerman in 29th.
Johnny Sauter fell victim to a speeding penalty on his final stop of the night, where he was caught speeding on entrance and exit. A pass through penalty relegated Sauter to 14th and he now sits 19 back from the points lead.
Ty Dillon, younger brother of points leader Austin Dillon, ran in the top 10 for most of the night but a miscalculation on fuel put him three laps down in 18th place. Ty Dillon came into the race only hoping to make every lap in the race and the driver did a ton more than just finish the race.
I expect that the Dillon brothers are going to bring a lot into the NASCAR world and the Truck Series is only stop #1 on this adventure.