Conversation: 2007 NCTS champion Ron Hornaday

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- In 2007, Ron Hornaday won his third career Craftsman Truck Series championship, and in the process gave owners Kevin and DeLana Harvick their first title in only the seventh season for their organization, Kevin Harvick Inc.

In doing so, Hornaday rekindled an intense, but respect-filled rivalry with the inaugural Truck Series champion Mike Skinner, which was not settled until Skinner's No. 5 Bill Davis Racing Toyota had a hub failure at Homestead that relegated him to a finish deep in the field.

Hornaday's latest championship was the result of a three-year building process at KHI, which followed a four-year stretch in which the native Californian raced three years in the Busch Series, with top-five points finishes each season; and one disastrous year in Cup with A.J. Foyt Racing.

On the eve of the Craftsman Truck Series' Awards Banquet at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Hornaday sat down to discuss his championship season, how special it is working with old buddies like Rick Carelli; and what the future holds racing with Jack Sprague at KHI.

Q: Does winning another championship, and the way you won it, battling tooth and nail to the wire with old rival Mike Skinner, add a few years on to your career?

Hornaday: Does it add years to my career? I hope not -- I hope that it just shows that I can still get it done. I mean, when I drive and I get behind the wheel of Kevin and DeLana's truck, it makes me feel like I'm an 18- or 20-year-old kid.

I just enjoy it. It is so much fun and I have a grin [on my face] every lap. I get tense out there because I'm the type of driver that wants to win, and I take it seriously. But it actually makes me feel younger when I get behind the wheel.

Q: This is your third Truck Series championship, but how special is this one, because it ties together you; [team manager] Rick Carelli, who you raced with in the Southwest Tour and Winston West days; [crew chief] Rick Ren, a Truck Series veteran winning his first title; and Kevin Harvick, another guy with West Coast connections?

Hornaday: This is my sixth championship, and my fifth in NASCAR, with my two Southwest Tour titles [in 1992-93]; we spent everything we had and just went out there in '93 and won everything. And then, [to get] the phone call from Dale [Earnhardt, to drive his truck in the inaugural Truck Series] and winning the first championship for him in '96 -- that was special.

But to come to Kevin Harvick Incorporated and to win their first [championship] -- to come across that start/finish line [at Homestead] -- you want to do a burnout, but all of a sudden you see the boss in front of you, going into Turn 1; and you want to catch him and see where he's going, and just make sure that I congratulate him first.

And he stopped on the back straightaway with the pace truck, and he's already out of his truck and I stop to get out of mine, and I don't even get my whole body out -- my right leg is still in there, and he just gives me a big hug with tears in his eyes.

That there will be the specialist moment of my career: To see Kevin's face after I won this championship for him. I've got tears in my eyes right now just thinking about it.

This is what it's all about -- the emotion of what Kevin thought I did for him, which is nothing compared to what he's done for me: To believe in me at 49 years old and to give me my second chance in racing, basically and to believe in me.

Last year, we ran rather well, but didn't finish that good in points. We were running good everywhere we went and stupid things would happen. But to get Rick Ren over there and Rick Carelli and them guys put the right people in the right places.

And Rick Carelli taking all the grief and all the crap from me -- being my spotter -- it's special. He's a racer and he understands -- and Rick Ren's a racer and Kevin Harvick's a racer and DeLana's drove and she's a racer.

It's special. You don't have to make excuses. They'll fix it. You know they're going to make that truck comfortable and I'll drive it 120 percent every lap. (Continued)