• Recap
• Bleachers

Hornaday holds off Busch, wins Sam's Town 400

Jun 7, 2008 - 5:42 AM FORT WORTH, Texas (Ticker) -- Ron Hornaday Jr. held off the best driver in NASCAR racing.

Hornaday withstood a challenge from Kyle Busch to take the checkered flag in the Sam's Town 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday night.

In a Chevrolet Silverado, the 49-year-old Hornaday won his second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race this season and 35th career.

"It is the biggest win right now," Hornaday said. "I tell you, other than Daytona, Texas is a race that I've wanted to win."

However, the three-time series champion had to fight off the charge of Busch, who also has won twice on the circuit in 2008 and 10 times total among NASCAR's three series.

After a caution near the finish caused the third consecutive green-white checkered finish in as many weeks, Hornaday sped away on the restart and kept a two-car minimum distance between himself and the Toyota Tundra of Busch for his first win in the 12 years in which a trucks race has been held here.

"When I saw that yellow come out as we were coming to the white flag, I said, 'Aw, darn, I just lost this race,'" Hornaday said. "But Kyle drove me clean and I've got to thank everybody."

Hornaday, like most racers in NASCAR, has watched Busch dominate in 2008, using rough, aggressive driving to be among the best in all three series.

"All these years, all these races that Ron has dominated, it's the first time he has ever won here," said Rick Ren, Hornaday's crew chief. "That is the most excited I have heard him at the end of a race. I mean, he is screaming, 'Yahoo, we won Texas.' He has wanted to win here so bad, it is such a great racetrack."

It was a major accomplishment for Busch to finish second, as he began in last place after J.R. Norris qualified the No. 51 vehicle for him Thursday. The current series points leader on the Sprint Cup circuit, Busch was attempting to make history by competing here before participating in the Nationwide event in Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday.

The 23-year-old from Las Vegas will attempt to follow that 300-mile event with the daunting task of racing in the Pocono 500 in Pennsylvania in the Sprint Series on Sunday afternoon. Overall, Busch has won four times each on the Sprint and Nationwide circuits.

Johnny Benson was third in a Toyota and Jack Sprague finished fourth in a Chevrolet. It was the fourth top-five finish this season for Benson and the third for Sprague.

Defending champion Todd Bodine came in fifth in a Toyota, while pole-sitter Justin Marks, also in a Tundra, finished 14th.