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Hornaday wins New Hampshire 200

Sep 13, 2008 - 11:29 PM LOUDON, New Hampshire (Ticker) -- Ron Hornaday Jr. put aside all the distractions and had another dominating performance at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Hornaday took the checkered flag Saturday, winning the New Hampshire 200 for the second straight year and third time in his career.

"It's been a long week but I have to thank everyone that has supported me on this deal," Hornaday said. "It was the same truck we won with last week, we definitely need to keep racing this one."

The defending Craftsman Truck Series champion, Hornaday was the center of a little controversy this week after he admitted using testosterone in 2004 and 2005.

NASCAR announced Friday that Hornaday would not receive a punishment because he was using it to treat a medical condition. That seemed to be the farthest thing from Hornaday's mind at New Hampshire's one-mile oval.

"First of all I've got to thank all of the race fans," Hornaday said. "They are so unbelievable. The support they've given me this week."

Hornaday's Chevrolet Silverado had no equal, as he dominated the race from the start, leading 149 of the 200 laps.

After a restart with four laps to go, the 50-year-old Hornaday held off series points leader Johnny Benson to win back-to-back races and capture his series-leading fifth victory of the year.

It was Hornaday's 38th career victory in the Truck Series.

Hornaday moved within 74 points of the top spot in the standings behind Benson, who finished second in a Toyota after starting on the pole.

"I tell you what, darn Johnny Benson was running sixth, seventh again and I don't know what he does in the last 50 laps but he comes along," Hornaday said. "It's going to come down to Homestead. We're going to do everything we can to keep running like we are."

At the conclusion of the race, David Starr and Todd Bodine got into a heated altercation on pit road. The incident resulted from Bodine's wreck with seven laps to go.

With both drivers running in the top 10, Starr bumped Bodine to send him into the wall with seven laps to go. Starr finished seventh and Bodine wound up 19th.

Travis Kvapil place third, followed by Erik Darnell and Rick Crawford. Kyle Busch, who is the top seed for the Sprint Cup's "Chase for the Championship," finished sixth.

"Our truck was really good on the long haul, but it just took us way too long to get going," Kvapil said.

"I guess we had track position at the end, but it was hard to pass back there and we didn't have the truck where we needed it to be," Darnell said.