Skinner, Hornaday both deserving but one will win

Twenty-nine points.

It seems so miniscule when you look at a 25-race season. But that's exactly what Friday's running of the Ford 200 (7:30 p.m. ET, SPEED) at Homestead-Miami Speedway has come down to. After 10 months of grueling, exciting racing, the championship battle between Mike Skinner and Ron Hornaday comes down to the difference between finishing first and fourth.

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Mike Skinner

Numbers: Truck

Eleven of the 12 previous Truck Series seasons have come down to the final race and that's the case this year as 29 points separates Mike Skinner and Ron Hornaday for the title.

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And the unfortunate thing is, both Skinner and Hornaday are deserving of this championship.

Skinner and his No. 5 Bill Davis Racing Toyota squad and Hornaday in Kevin Harvick Inc.'s No. 33 Chevy have been the class of the field all season, but only one will get to hoist the trophy after 134 laps in Miami, while the other can look back at the season and wonder, 'What if?'

Both drivers started out the season well at Daytona, with Skinner coming home fourth and Hornaday finishing seventh. Jack Sprague won the race, in one of the closest-finishes in Truck Series history as he, Johnny Benson and Travis Kvapil were in a drag race to the checkers.

It was the only time this season the name Skinner or Hornaday was not on top of the points standings.

Skinner tied Sprague for the points lead after the second race at California Speedway when he won his first of three races in a row which would include Fontana, Atlanta and Martinsville.

In all, Skinner would have five wins on the season -- adding two more at Kentucky and again at Martinsville, 17 top-five finishes and 20 top-10s. Skinner finished no worse than 13th twice this season.

But it wasn't the finishes that opened up the eyes of many in the Truck Series garage, it was the starts. Skinner started on the pole a Truck Series record 11 times this season, beating his old record of poles on a season of 10 set back in 1995, the year he won his one and only title.

There was a stretch of six consecutive races -- Atlanta, Martinsville, Kansas, Charlotte, Mansfield and Dover -- where he was on the pole, also a Truck Series record. Maybe even more amazing though, is even when not starting up front, Skinner found a way to get there.

Skinner led at least one lap in the first 15 races of the season, and in all has been up front 23 of the 24 races run this year, also a Truck Series record. The only race he didn't lead a lap, Bristol, where he started fifth and finished fourth.

Hornaday might not have stole headlines this season like his friend and nemesis Skinner, but consistency wins titles, and Hornaday was that.

After finishing seventh at Daytona, he was the runner-up to Skinner at Fontana, finished 11th at Atlanta and then went on a tear of 15 consecutive top-10 finishes. He had four wins in that stretch, three second-place finishes and finished no worse than six in just two races, 10ths at Michigan and Kentucky.

On the season, Hornaday has four wins, 13 top-fives and 21 top-10s. His average finish on the season is 5.6, which is actually better than Skinner's 6.1. (Continued)