Harvick claimed the win at Phoenix

Kevin Harvick held off Kyle Busch to take the checkered flag in Friday night’s Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway, but the big winner was Ron Hornaday, who secured his record fourth Truck Series championship with a fourth-place finish at the 1-mile track, driving the No. 33 Chevrolet owned by Harvick.

The 51-year-old Hornaday became the oldest champion in NASCAR history and celebrated with his owner by lining up side-by-side at the finish line for a simultaneous burnout.
 
“To see Hornaday lock up the championship and to win the race, I don’t know if you can script it much better,” Harvick said.

Harvick won the race despite bringing out the first caution, on Lap 6, with a spin off Turn 4. Hornaday overcame an early penalty to claim the series title by finishing ahead of Matt Crafton, the only driver with an outside chance to overtake him. Crafton came home eighth and heads to the final event at Homestead-Miami Speedway locked into second in the series standings.

In a green-white-checkered-flag finish that took the race one lap past its scheduled distance of 150 laps, Harvick won the race under caution after Tayler Malsam wrecked on the final lap. Aric Almirola was third, followed by Hornaday and pole-sitter Johnny Sauter.

Harvick hit a slick spot of oil on Lap 6, slid up the track into Almirola’s Toyota and spun toward the infield, but neither truck lost a lap because of the accident.

In fact, Almirola passed Busch for the lead on Lap 44 and stretched his advantage to 3.3 seconds by Lap 65. Harvick was running third by then, having changed tires on Lap 35, under caution for Brad Sweet’s spin in Turn 3.

Hornaday drew a penalty for improper fueling under caution on Lap 35, when the fuel filler can was inserted into the receptacle on the car before the catch can was in place. Faced with restarting from the rear of the field, Hornaday returned to pit road for tires and gradually worked his way through the field.

“I was sweating real bad,” Hornaday admitted. “To come home in the top five, that’s what we needed to do.”

By Lap 81, Hornaday was 12th, seven positions behind Crafton, who had not stopped for tires. Hornaday passed Crafton in the pits on Lap 92 — under caution called when Wheeler Boys slowed on the backstretch — after Crafton was forced to retrieve a dropped lug nut.

Hornaday restarted seventh on Lap 96 and quickly gained two positions, while Crafton remained mired in ninth place until he slipped past David Starr for eighth on Lap 107.

The owners’ title is still up for grabs as Kevin Harvick Inc. holds a 60-point lead over Billy Ballew.

“We’re not done yet,” Hornaday said as soon as he climbed from his truck. “We’ve got to get that owners’ championship for Kevin and DeLana.”

Busch, who had his streak of five wins in his past five starts come to an end, drives for free for Ballew as a favor to help the fledgling owner, who first entered Trucks in 1996, its second season.

“We’re racing Kyle Busch for owners’ points and that’s truly the goal,” said Hornaday, who won drivers’ championships in 1996, ‘98 and 2007.

Complete standing:

RANK	+/-	DRIVER	POINTS	BEHIND	STARTS	POLES	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10
1	–	Ron Hornaday	3817	Leader	24	4	6	15	19
2	–	Matt Crafton	3602	-215	24	2	0	10	20
3	–	Mike Skinner	3452	-365	24	3	3	8	16
4	–	Todd Bodine	3277	-540	24	1	2	10	11
5	+2	Johnny Sauter*	3193	-624	24	2	1	7	12
6	–	Brian Scott	3180	-637	24	0	1	7	13
7	-2	Colin Braun	3168	-649	24	4	1	8	13
8	+1	David Starr	3125	-692	24	0	0	4	13
9	-1	Timothy Peters	3124	-693	24	1	1	4	12
10	–	Rick Crawford	3049	-768	24	1	0	3	7
11	–	Stacy Compton	3024	-793	24	0	0	0	9
12	+1	Tayler Malsam*	2908	-909	24	0	0	1	10
13	-1	Terry Cook	2890	-927	24	0	0	4	9
14	–	James Buescher*	2775	-1042	24	0	0	1	3
15	+1	T.J. Bell	2633	-1184	24	0	0	1	4
16	-1	Jason White	2618	-1199	24	0	0	2	4
17	–	Dennis Setzer	2483	-1334	19	0	0	3	11
18	–	Kyle Busch	2454	-1363	14	2	7	11	13
19	–	Chad McCumbee	2280	-1537	20	0	0	1	5
20	–	Aric Almirola	2175	-1642	15	0	0	7	10
21	–	Norm Benning	2021	-1796	23	0	0	0	0
22	–	Ricky Carmichael*	1872	-1945	17	0	0	0	2
23	–	Brandon Knupp	1345	-2472	19	0	0	0	0
24	–	Brian Ickler*	1340	-2477	11	1	0	2	3
25	–	Mario Gosselin	1221	-2596	14	0	0	0	1
26	–	J.R. Fitzpatrick*	1137	-2680	10	0	0	1	1
27	–	Wayne Edwards	1067	-2750	15	0	0	0	0
28	–	Johnny Benson	1047	-2770	8	0	0	3	4
29	–	Chris Fontaine	1045	-2772	11	0	0	0	0
30	+3	Nick Tucker	980	-2837	16	0	0	0	0
31	-1	Ryan Sieg	968	-2849	9	0	0	0	1
32	-1	Brent Raymer*	963	-2854	14	0	0	0	0
33	-1	Max Papis	958	-2859	9	0	0	0	1
34	–	Chris Jones*	907	-2910	13	0	0	0	0
35	+2	Kevin Harvick	890	-2927	5	0	2	5	5
36	-1	Shane Sieg	875	-2942	11	0	0	0	0
37	-1	Butch Miller	819	-2998	12	0	0	0	0
38	–	Mikey Kile	684	-3133	6	0	0	0	0
39	–	Mike Bliss	661	-3156	6	0	0	0	2
40	–	Johnny Chapman	448	-3369	7	0	0	0	0
41	–	Ryan Hackett*	398	-3419	7	0	0	0	0
42	–	J.J. Yeley	385	-3432	5	0	0	0	0
43	–	Marc Mitchell	367	-3450	5	0	0	0	0
44	–	Tim Bainey Jr.	366	-3451	4	0	0	0	0
45	–	Tommy Joe Martins	361	-3456	4	0	0	0	0
46	–	Andy Ponstein	350	-3467	5	0	0	0	0
47	–	Ryan Newman	325	-3492	2	1	0	2	2
48	–	John Jackson	323	-3494	6	0	0	0	0
49	–	Rob Fuller	322	-3495	4	0	0	0	0
50	–	Ben Stancill	319	-3498	4	0	0	0	0
51	–	Jason Young	315	-3502	3	0	0	0	0
52	–	Gabi DiCarlo	306	-3511	3	0	0	0	0
53	+11	Brett Thompson	297	-3520	3	0	0	0	0
54	-1	Hermie Sadler	282	-3535	3	0	0	0	0
55	-1	Dexter Bean	282	-3535	3	0	0	0	0
56	-1	Bryan Silas	281	-3536	3	0	0	0	0
57	-1	Lance Hooper	265	-3552	4	0	0	0	0
58	-1	Ken Schrader	249	-3568	2	0	0	0	1
59	-1	Sean Murphy	247	-3570	4	0	0	0	0
60	+9	Richard Harriman	234	-3583	3	0	0	0	0
61	-2	Scott Wimmer	224	-3593	2	0	0	0	0
62	-2	Chase Austin*	218	-3599	2	0	0	0	0
63	-2	Justin Hobgood	217	-3600	2	0	0	0	1
64	-2	David Gilliland	208	-3609	2	0	0	0	1
65	+17	Jamie Dick	197	-3620	2	0	0	0	0
66	-3	Ryan Mathews	195	-3622	5	0	0	0	0
67	-2	Brett Butler	188	-3629	3	0	0	0	0
68	-2	Michelle Theriault	183	-3634	3	0	0	0	0
69	+21	Derek White	176	-3641	2	0	0	0	0
70	-3	Tim Andrews	176	-3641	2	0	0	0	0
71	-3	Dillon Oliver	170	-3647	3	0	0	0	0
72	-2	Denny Hamlin	155	-3662	1	0	0	0	1
73	-2	Peyton Sellers	137	-3680	2	0	0	0	0
74	-2	Travis Kvapil	130	-3687	1	0	0	0	0
75	–	Todd Kluever	127	-3690	1	0	0	0	0
76	-3	Austin Dillon	127	-3690	2	0	0	0	0
77	-3	Blake Feese	127	-3690	1	0	0	0	0
78	-2	Chrissy Wallace	124	-3693	1	0	0	0	0
79	-2	J C Stout	119	-3698	2	0	0	0	0
80	-2	Brent Sherman	115	-3702	2	0	0	0	0
81	-2	Marc Davis	109	-3708	1	0	0	0	0
82	-2	Burt Myers	106	-3711	1	0	0	0	0
83	–	Kevin Conway	106	-3711	1	0	0	0	0
84	-3	Larry Foyt	103	-3714	1	0	0	0	0
85	–	Brad Sweet	97	-3720	1	0	0	0	0
86	-3	Caitlin Shaw	91	-3726	1	0	0	0	0
87	-2	Steve Park	88	-3729	1	0	0	0	0
88	-4	Duane Bischoff	88	-3729	1	0	0	0	0
89	-2	Andy Lally	85	-3732	1	0	0	0	0
90	+22	Wheeler Boys	85	-3732	2	0	0	0	0
91	-3	Hal Martin	85	-3732	1	0	0	0	0
92	-3	Nate Monteith	85	-3732	1	0	0	0	0
93	-7	Jennifer Jo Cobb	85	-3732	2	0	0	0	0
94	-3	Mike Wallace	84	-3733	1	0	0	0	0
95	-3	Tim Brown	82	-3735	1	0	0	0	0
96	–	Robbie Brand	82	-3735	1	0	0	0	0
97	–	Tim George Jr.	76	-3741	1	0	0	0	0
98	-5	Jason Leffler	76	-3741	1	0	0	0	0
99	-4	Pierre Bourque	76	-3741	1	0	0	0	0
100	-6	Jamie Mosley	76	-3741	1	0	0	0	0
101	-5	Brad Keselowski	73	-3744	1	0	0	0	0
102	+15	Dan Brode	73	-3744	1	0	0	0	0
103	-6	Trevor Boys	70	-3747	3	0	0	0	0
104	-6	Kevin Lepage	64	-3753	1	0	0	0	0
105	-6	Chris Lawson	64	-3753	1	0	0	0	0
106	-5	Mike Garvey	61	-3756	1	0	0	0	0
107	-7	Frank Deiny	61	-3756	1	0	0	0	0
108	-5	Robert Richardson Jr.	58	-3759	1	0	0	0	0
109	-7	Donnie Neuenberger	58	-3759	1	0	0	0	0
110	-6	Clay Rogers	55	-3762	1	0	0	0	0
111	-6	Michael McDowell	0	-3817	1	0	0	0	0
112	-6	Mike Harmon	0	-3817	4	0	0	0	0
113	-6	Wes Burton	0	-3817	2	0	0	0	0
114	-6	Jason Cochran	0	-3817	1	0	0	0	0
115	-6	Danny Efland	0	-3817	2	0	0	0	0
116	-6	Charles Lewandoski	0	-3817	1	0	0	0	0
117	-6	Brandon Duchscherer	0	-3817	1	0	0	0	0
118	-2	Chris Lafferty	0	-3817	1	0	0	0	0
119	-5	John Wes Townley	0	-3817	0	0	0	0	0
120	-5	Paul Bamburak	0	-3817	0	0	0	0	0
121	-8	Jack Smith	0	-3817	0	0	0	0	0

source: NASCAR