Veteran Hornaday beats youngsters for fourth win

Truex Jr. hangs on to Busch Series points lead

WEST ALLIS, Wis. (AP) -- Ron Hornaday Jr. won the Alan Kulwicki 250 on Saturday night at the Milwaukee Mile, taking the lead with seven laps to go after rallying from a lap down.

	Hornaday celebrates his fourth career Busch Series victory. Credit: AP

Hornaday passed Shane Hmiel on the inside, ending Hmiel's chance for his first Busch Series victory.

Hornaday started in the 10th position, and dropped a lap behind when the first caution flag came out while he was in the pits.

"You hate to see that (caution), but you need a cut tire or debris or something so you can get that back," he said.

The two-time Craftsman Truck Series champion worked his way through the field and managed to steal the race from Hmiel and David Stremme, who exchanged the lead several times. They led a total of 170 laps before fading at the end.

In all, eight racers led the 250-lap event -- run under the lights for the first time -- on the 1.032-mile track.

It was Hornaday's fourth career Busch Series victory and first this season.

ALAN KULWICKI 250 Hornaday celebrates his fourth career win Play video Atwood and Sauter make contact in the early laps Play video Hear from the top finishers at The Milwaukee Mile Play video  •  Results  •  Standings

Stremme finished second, followed by Jason Keller and Hmiel, driving in place of Nextel Cup driver Kasey Kahne.

Hornaday said he was able to take advantage of the battle between Hmiel and Stremme at the race's end.

"Those kids were running their guts out," Hornaday said. "They were loosening each other up and touching each other a little bit. They started spinning their tires and it give us a little fresher tires."

Stremme was leading with about 30 laps to go when he bobbled and slowed, allowing Hmiel to pass.

"I thought I was going to hit the wall," Stremme said.

Stremme won the Busch Pole earlier in the day with a time of 29.375 seconds, which broke the track qualifying record of 29.394 set by Kevin Harvick in June 2001.

But he led the race for just one lap before being passed by Kyle Busch. He dropped several more spots before regaining the lead by passing Hmiel during the 143rd lap. Hmiel's second pit stop moved him ahead of Stremme briefly, but Stremme passed him again with about 50 laps to go.

Stremme agreed with Hornaday that he ran too hard at the end of the race. But he said he felt good about his finish -- his best all season.

"It's not too frustrating when we've had the finishes we've had over the past six weeks," he said.

Hmiel led for 62 laps early, but lost position after the first caution on the 77th lap. Casey Atwood, who started third, hit the wall after being struck from behind by Johnny Sauter. Atwood was running sixth before his night ended.

	Shane Hmiel led 95 laps and finished fourth. Credit: AP

It wasn't the first contact Sauter made in the race while he aggressively tried to regain his position in the front. The Necedah, Wis.-native had the second-fastest time in qualifying, but replaced his engine before the race and was forced to start at the back of the field.

Sauter managed to move into the top 10, but his night ended when he lost control and hit the wall on the 195th lap.

Series points leader Martin Truex Jr. finished ninth to increase his lead over Kyle Busch from 10 points to 28. Busch finished 16th.

The race drew 44,386 fans, about double what a Champ Car race drew earlier in the month.

The Milwaukee Mile renamed the race to honor Kulwicki, the late Winston Cup champion who grew up blocks from the Milwaukee Mile. It was also the first time qualifying and the race ran on the same day.

Keller, who won last year, said he couldn't use anything he learned then because the race was about "30 degrees cooler, if I remember right."

"Although we won last year, we had no where close the same set up," he said.

Hornaday also said running at night made preparing for the race tough. But he wouldn't have changed the set up.

"I love it," he said. "I enjoy a one-day show."