Hornaday Gives Chevrolet First Truck Pole at Talladega

Photo Credit:  Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

For the second straight week, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series joins stock car's headline Sprint Cup series for the Talladega Superspeedway race weekend. Friday qualifying for the Mountain Dew 250 set for 3 P.M. Eastern on Saturday afternoon saw Chevrolet performing a first-ever feat in the truck series at the 2.66 mile oval. Wearing the Bowtie logo, the #33 Kevin Harvick Incorporated truck piloted by Ron Hornaday Jr flew to pole at Talladega posting a top qualifying time of 52.839 seconds or the equivalent average speed of 181.230 miles per hour. Hornaday's Chevrolet Silverado outran the #23 Ford F-150 of Jason White through the time trial by more than just 1/10th of a second to give himself as well as his manufacturer a first time pole at the super fast Alabama race track.

Late into the Camping World Truck Series qualifying session at Talladega Superspeedway, Richard Childress Racing rookie Austin Dillon drew a late qualifying run to potentially challenge Hornaday's mark with the #3 Chevrolet. Dillon came short but still produced a 3rd fastest time to start Saturday's Mountain Dew 250. With two of the top-three starting position occupied by Chevrolet Silverados, the Friday qualifying outing was quite a reason to celebrate through the top-10. The #2 KHI Chevy being driven by stock car veteran Ken Schrader secured a front-running 4th spot. 7th through 9th, Turner Motorsports trucks driven by Ricky Carmichael and James Buescher sandwich the another Chevy, the #13 Thorsport Racing truck of Johnny Sauter.

Bucking the usual trend for double-duty drivers during companion races at the same race track leading into the Sprint Cup race, there will only be as many as three drivers planning to run both the truck and cup race at Talladega. Among the most notable, driver and embattled first year truck team owner Kyle Busch will start 18th in his #18 Toyota Tundra. Driving the #9 Ford again for Richard Petty Motorsports after a more than respectable outing in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Martinsville, Aric Almirola runs his season-long campaign with Bill Ballew Motorsports' #51 Toyota. Almirola will start 5th for the Mountain Dew 250 Saturday behind Schrader and ahead of Chris Fontaine's enviable 6th fastest qualifying lap. 

Runaway points leader in the Camping World Truck Series Todd Bodine starts 10th with his #30 Germain Racing Toyota. Holding onto a 282-point lead above Aric Almirola, fortune at Talladega would go a long way to sealing the 2010 championship. After four truck races at Talladega, Bodine comes into the event with stellar history of two wins and a worst ever finish being 4th in 2006.

Though a big qualifying result for Ron Hornaday Jr, Kevin Harvick Incorporated and Chevrolet, qualifying positions will be of little importance once the Mountain Dew 250 at Talladega Superspeedway commences. Guaranteed to be a rough and tumble outing as high-speeds, close quarters as well as drafting is certain to shuffle the field with likelihood of multiple vehicle wrecks looming for 36 competitors.


NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Mountain Dew 250
Talladega Superspeedway
October 29th, 2010

Starting Lineup:

1. 1 33 Ron Hornaday Jr. E-Z-GO 2Five Chevrolet 52.839 SEC / 181.230
2. 23 Jason White GunBroker.com/Pursuit Channel Ford 52.932 SEC / 180.911
3. 3 Austin Dillon BassProShops/Rmngtn/TrckrBoats Chev 52.942 SEC / 180.877
4. 2 Ken Schrader Moore's Marinade Chevrolet 52.947 SEC / 180.860
5. 51 Aric Almirola Billy Ballew Motorsports Toyota 53.104 SEC / 180.325
6. 84 Chris Fontaine Glenden Enterprises Toyota 53.153 SEC / 180.159
7. 4 Ricky Carmichael Monster Energy Chevrolet 53.262 SEC / 179.790
8. 13 Johnny Sauter FarmPaint.com Chevrolet 53.348 SEC / 179.501
9. 31 James Buescher Wolf Pack Rentals Chevrolet 53.353 SEC / 179.484 
10. 30 Todd Bodine Valvoline Toyota 53.431 SEC / 179.222
11. 88 Matt Crafton Australian Gold/Menards Chevrolet 53.435 SEC / 179.208
12. 95 Grant Enfinger BeasleyAllen.com/Roush Yates Ford 53.475 SEC / 179.074
13. 81 David Starr Zachry Toyota 53.547 SEC / 178.834
14. 60 Narain Karthikeyan SafeAuto Insurance/Wyler.com Chevrolet 53.549 SEC / 178.827 
15. 17 Timothy Peters Red Horse Racing Toyota 53.562 SEC / 178.783
16. 5 Mike Skinner Exide Toyota 53.668 SEC / 178.430
17. 7 Justin Lofton visitpit.com Toyota 53.711 SEC / 178.288
18. 18 Kyle Busch Toyota Tundra/TRAXXAS Toyota 53.731 SEC / 178.221
19. 46 Craig Goess Jr. Greenville Toyota Toyota 53.960 SEC / 177.465
20. 9 Max Papis GEICO Toyota 54.030 SEC / 177.235
21. 10 Jennifer Jo Cobb DrivenMale.com Ford 54.048 SEC / 177.176
22. 12 Mario Gosselin Accell Cnstrctn/TireMnky/JamesCrtr Att Chev 54.050 SEC / 177.169
23. 47 Donnie Neuenberger Plan B Techologies Chevrolet 54.067 SEC / 177.114
24. 6 Jeffrey Earnhardt Firestop/FWI/FuelDoctor Dodge 54.117 SEC / 176.950 
25. 07 Tony Jackson Jr. ASI Limited/Akzo Nobel Chevrolet 54.124 SEC / 176.927
26. 39 Ryan Sieg S&W Towing Chevrolet 54.530 SEC / 175.610
27. 93 Mike Garvey S&W Towing Chevrolet 54.705 SEC / 175.048
28. 53 Justin Hobgood Alabama Cattlemen's Association Chevrolet 54.872 SEC / 174.515
29. 57 Norm Benning Norm Benning Racing Chevrolet 55.071 SEC / 173.885
30. 89 Mike Harmon Lafferty Performance/Blue Ox Ford 55.205 SEC / 173.463
31. 85 Brent Raymer Blast It All Ford/Ford Drive one Ford 55.327 SEC / 173.080
32. 28 Andy Lally FDNY Racing Chevrolet 55.474 SEC / 172.621
33. 72 John Jackson James Carter Att./SponsortheTruck.com Chev 55.515 SEC / 172.494
34. 48 Bryan Silas Pro Gold Chevrolet 55.930 SEC / 171.214
35. 00 Dominick Casola Koma Unwind Chevrolet 56.589 SEC / 169.220
36. 24 Jerick Johnson Lafferty Performance Chevrolet 57.978 SEC / 165.166