Ron Hornaday, No. 9 Anderson’s Pure Maple Syrup/Bashas’ Phoenix Preview

Fast and Fun Facts… 

 

  • Ron Hornaday is the only active, full-time competitor whose career dates back to the inaugural NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) event at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) on February 5, 1995
  • Hornaday won the Keystone Light Pole award at the first NCWTS race in 1995 at PIR
  • Heading to PIR this weekend? Hornaday will make an appearance at the Bashas’ Supermarkets on-site store located at PIR on Thursday, November 8 from 1-2 p.m. MST.
  • Don’t forget to vote for Ron Hornaday as the 2012 NCWTS Most Popular driver. You can vote once per day until voting ends on November 16. To vote, please visit: NASCAR.com/ncwtsmpd 

Rise of the Phoenix…
With one of the most unique layouts on the NCWTS circuit, PIR is a one-mile, D-shaped oval that also boasts a challenging dog-leg off the fourth turn. Hornaday has led 152 laps at the speedway en route to two wins (April 1998 and March 1999) as well as 10 top-five and 13 top-10 finishes in 17 starts at the Avondale, Arizona track. Hornaday boasts an average start of 7.9 coupled with an average finish of 7.9 and has completed 97.3 percent of laps attempted (2529 of 2599).


In The Loop… 
According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Hornaday has the following stats at PIR:

  • A driver rating of 96.2, ranking him eighth overall and fourth among active NCWTS drivers
  • Fourth in fastest drivers late in a run, second among active NCWTS drivers
  • Fifth in fastest on restarts, second among active NCWTS drivers
  • Fifth in laps in the top-15 with 847, third among active NCWTS drivers
  • Sixth among laps led with 19

Chassis History… 

Hornaday will pilot chassis No. 3 in this weekend’s Lucas Oil 150 at PIR. This is the same JDM Chevrolet Silverado that the four-time NCWTS champion piloted to a 12th-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway (June) his season-best finish of second at Iowa Speedway (July) a 17th-place finish at Michigan International Speedway (August) and most recently a 33rd-place finish at Iowa Speedway (September).

 

Get to the Point… 
Following a 20th-place finish in the last NCWTS event, the WinStar World Casino 350K at Texas Motor Speedway, Hornaday fell one position from 12th to 13th in the 2012 NCWTS driver point standings. Hornaday is 54 points out of the top-10 and 205 points behind leader, James Buescher.  

A Penny For Your Thoughts…

“This is the first truck race at PIR since the track was repaved last season, which should make for a somewhat even playing field across the board. I’ve had some success over the years at PIR and although the track surface is new, I’m sure it’s still the same ol’ animal and experience should prevail. It’s my understanding that it still has a lot of speed and even more grip than before. Our short-track program has been pretty strong this year and I’m confident that we can have a good showing for our partners, Anderson’s Maple Syrup.”

 

JDM PR