Former Truck champions careers in different stages

They finished 1-2-3 in the 2007 Truck Series championship. They each have at least one Truck title. They sit first, second and fourth in win percentage in the history of the series. They each had brief bouts in the Cup Series and all three drivers will tell you very little separate them behind the wheel.

There was a time not long ago when Ron Hornaday, Mike Skinner and Johnny Benson, respectively to the above numbers, were the faces of the Truck Series, the three most dominant drivers on the circuit. But in '09, they find themselves going in three completely different directions.

Some of it is luck, both good and bad. Some of it is misfortunate. Some of it is just being in the right place at the right time. But all three know they could be in the other person's shoes if it wasn't for one or two fate-changing decisions.

• Hornaday has become the king of the Truck Series. His six wins, nine top-fives and 12 top-10s are all series highs this season. He had the largest points lead in Truck history after 14 races and looks to win his fourth title -- a series record.

• Skinner is trying to find the magic again with a new organization after the one for which he garnered so much success folded. Skinner can run strong, but with a limited budget and limited resources, he can only do so much.

• Benson, the defending champion, is out of a ride and looking for his next opportunity. Gone after just eight races, he knows he can compete for a championship, but the open teams that can are slim.

Three drivers who not long ago were the crème de la crème of the Truck Series now find themselves facing new challenges as they look to regain or maintain the level of success they had just a few short years ago.

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No sponsor on the truck eventually meant no truck for Johnny Benson to drive.

A HORSE OF A DIFFERENT COLOR

It's hard to imagine the defending Truck Series champion not in the sport the following year, but that's exactly what happened to Johnny Benson.

It all started in November 2008 when Benson announced he was leaving Bill Davis Racing a month before Benson would go on to win his first series title.

"Bill Davis gave me a great opportunity to come race in the Truck Series along with the help of Toyota and it was a lot of fun. It was great. I think everybody said what they said we were going to do," Benson said. "We wanted to go out and be a championship contender and when a championship. I think myself and the organization accomplished that. I think that is something both parties can be proud of.

"I knew there were some things going on. It sounded like they were selling the team and moving it, things of this nature. So four or five weeks before the end of the season, I chose not to come back knowing that there was going to be some changes, knowing that I didn't really know what I was going to do."

A champion with no ride, it didn't take long for Benson to find his next opportunity. In mid-December, Benson announced he would be joining Red Horse Racing with a three-year deal. Even better for Benson, most of his championship crew, now jobless with Bill Davis Racing closing up shop, would join Benson at RHR including crew chief Trip Bruce.

Johnny Benson

Career Truck Stats

Year	No.	W	T-5	T-10	Avg. Fin.	Rank
1995	7	0	2	5	8.6	26
1996	4	0	1	4	5.2	39
1997	1	0	0	0	34.0	129
2004	13	0	5	8	9.5	25
2005	25	0	6	10	14.9	10
2006	25	5	13	17	10.2	2
2007	25	4	12	19	9.6	3
2008	25	5	14	18	9.1	1
2009	8	0	3	4	12.4	22
Totals	133	14	56	85	10.8

"I hemmed and hawed for a little bit because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I looked at a partial schedule and things of that nature, but Red Horse had pushed really hard to get Trip and me over there to run for a championship," Benson said. "He had come up with a three-year plan, a three-year deal to make that happen and at that point in time I was like, 'Alright, I'm excited about it, let's do it.' So that was the plan."

Things got off to a good start, too. Although the team struggled to find full-time sponsorship for the No. 1 Toyota, Benson was competitive and after eight races had three top-fives and was sitting seventh in points. That's when the bottom dropped out.

On June 8, Tom DeLoach, owner of Red Horse Racing, announced he was shutting down the No. 1 team immediately due to lack of funding. The move came as a total shock to Benson.

"It was a business decision, that's what he chose to do, it's not what was agreed upon but that's what happens," Benson said. "There's nothing you can do outside of that. The hard part that's hard to swallow is the fact that we were actually closer to the championship lead than I was the year before and we continued on and won the championship. I really believed we could have done that this year.

"We had all the right people. We had everything in place to make that happen, that's what Red Horse wanted. We had everything in place to make that happen and now its not. So it was a business decision. You can't argue that. It's his decision, it's his race team."

Benson could have found have a ride for the rest of the '09 season, but he's not one to be satisfied with being a field-filler. He wants to compete. He wants to win.

"At this stage in my career, I'm capable of winning races and going to win a championship," Benson said. "I don't want to do something that doesn't have that opportunity. It doesn't make sense for me to go run 10th, 15th, 20th -- my nature is to go win races and go run for a championship."

Skinner, former teammate of Benson at Bill Davis Racing, agrees.

"There would have been several places he could have gone and drove, but not at the level of competition he wants to run in," Skinner said. "I don't think Johnny wants to run in the back.

"He's not done. He'll be back. He's not financially broke, he can take this year off and go play and kind of get his ducks in a row and find sponsorship and I feel sure that Johnny Benson will be back."

Benson's return was sidelined even more after a violent crash at Berlin Speedway in Marne, Mich., during a supermodified race. Benson suffered broken ribs, a separated shoulder and burns sidelining him for the rest of the '09 season.

Doctors expect a full recovery and the '08 champion is hard at work looking for his next opportunity.

"We will see what next year brings but I think what we can expect from myself in the future is to run for another championship and I honestly believe that," Benson said. "I'm capable of doing that and when I get the right people and everything lined up, we will go do that. It's just a matter of crossing your t's and dotting your i's and getting to the right situation to make that happen."

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Driving for a team with limited funding, Mike Skinner has played it safe this season, but sometimes that's just not possible.

THE MOSS IS ALWAYS GREENER

Unlike former teammate Johnny Benson, Mike Skinner "had no earthly idea" that he wouldn't be driving the No. 5 Toyota for Bill Davis Racing in 2009.

"It was devastating," Skinner said. "I had some really good offers from good teams that I could have gone to and I passed on them. We had a really good program over there with Johnny and myself and we always kept a development driver in the 22 truck. It was a good program. We all kind of fed off each other and the crew chiefs seemed to get along pretty good. It was a good deal."

Ron Hornaday can sympathize with Skinner. A friend on and off the track for many years, Hornaday, too, has been in that situation.

"I go back [to when I was with Dale Earnhardt Inc.]. I won them two championships and was running real good in the Nationwide car, top-five in points and he starts a Cup team and all of a sudden I'm out looking for a job," Hornaday said. "Things change, that's what so tough about this sport."

Skinner found out on New Year's Day that Bill Davis Racing was no more, which left six weeks for the 1995 Truck Series champion to find a new home. In late January, that new home became Randy Moss Motorsports.

Mike Skinner

Career Truck Stats

Year	No.	W	T-5	T-10	Avg. Fin.	Rank
1995	20	8	17	18	4.8	1
1996	24	8	17	20	5.7	3
1997	4	0	2	2	19.2	47
1998	2	0	1	1	12.0	55
2003	4	0	0	0	15.5	48
2004	25	0	4	9	15.5	11
2005	25	2	9	13	13.6	5
2006	25	1	8	13	14.1	10
2007	25	5	17	20	7.3	2
2008	25	1	5	18	11.2	6
2009	15	1	6	10	9.4	3
Totals	194	26	86	124	10.7

Moss debuted his new Truck team to mixed results in 2008 as five drivers combined to put up two top-10s in 13 races. But in Moss' first full season, he went with a combination of experience and youth by putting Skinner and rookie Tayler Malsam in the team's two trucks. It's a combination that has Skinner very excited.

"The team that I'm with now has the potential to be even better," Skinner said. " This team here is running on six cylinders, they don't have any money and it makes it awfully hard to get the personnel and the people in there -- but the potential with the leadership of [crew chief] Eric Phillips and [co-owner] David Dollar, I was shocked at the potential this team has, I'm shocked we won a race this year."

Through the first 15 races, Skinner sits third in points with a win, six top-fives and 10 top-10s. He's competitive with his new team, something he realizes is rare. And Skinner is appreciative for the opportunity, because he knows he could have easily been out of the sport as is Benson.

"We could be out of [a ride] next year," Skinner said. "That's the nature of our business. We've been blessed that we've been able to find a situation that we could keep racing and keep going. Randy has indicated that he can help pump some blood into our veins in this thing and hopefully he'll do that."

Money, right now, is the big obstacle for Skinner and his race team and it has changed how he does things on the track. With only so many trucks available, Skinner has to be extra cautious, something he's not exactly accustomed to doing.

"It makes you a better points racer but you win fewer races," Skinner said. "I've never really claimed to be a points racer, it's not my style. I want wins, I want top-fives.

"We've finished second two times in a row this year and we probably could have won the race. I would have had to go up there and take the chance of wrecking and we chose not to."

Skinner understands that his team, while contending, isn't on par with Hornaday and Kevin Harvick Inc. He looks back to this year's race at Nashville, where he has dominated in the past and says this year "we couldn't hit our butt with two hands."

The former champ knows it takes many years together to get to the level that Hornaday and KHI are right now, and he hopes he has the opportunity with Randy Moss Motorsports to make it happen because he believes the pieces are there for a championship.

"I feel quite sure when we go back to these places again we are going to be competitive," Skinner said. "You give us until this time next year, I feel quite sure we are going to be better. And if we stay together another year, we are going to be like where [crew chief] Rick [Ren] and Ron are right now."

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Ron Hornaday has been with Kevin and DeLana Harvick since 2005, racking up 19 wins and the '07 series title.

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

Ron Hornaday is smiling more now than he ever has.

In his fifth year with Kevin Harvick Inc., Hornaday just rolled off a Truck Series-record five consecutive victories to catapult him to the top of the standings. His No. 33 team is the favorite to win each and every week and if Hornaday can just maintain a top-10 finish in the final 10 races, he will cruise to his record fourth Truck championship.

All this coming at 51 years of age, a time when he should be thinking about retirement, not racing domination.

"We are having fun," Hornaday said. "I'm fortunate enough where my kids are old enough and grown up where I can go out and it's basically mine and my wife's vacation. We go to these race tracks and we spend more time with the fans and we don't have to worry about the kids having a get-together at the house or driving one of our cars, so it's kind of cool."

Hornaday's situation is one every driver in the series hopes to achieve in their career, and it all starts at the top. Hornaday knows he is blessed to be driving for one of the best owners in the business in Kevin Harvick.

"Kevin and [wife] DeLana have definitely given us the right equipment to put the right people in place and to work with," Hornaday said. "I've been real fortunate in my career to drive for owners who have driven before and own teams and Kevin is top-notch. He's hands on, he knows what he's got in the shop. He's not one of those guys who takes his money and throws it at a team. He spends his money wisely. DeLana, she hands on, she's there every day. It's just so much fun."

Ron Hornaday

Career Truck Stats

Year	No.	W	T-5	T-10	Avg. Fin.	Rank
1995	20	6	10	14	7.4	3
1996	24	4	18	23	4.5	1
1997	26	7	13	17	11.3	5
1998	27	6	16	22	7.2	1
1999	25	2	7	16	10.9	7
2002	2	1	1	1	6.5	53
2004	1	0	0	0	13.0	85
2005	25	1	7	13	11.6	4
2006	25	2	8	12	12.0	7
2007	25	4	13	22	5.7	1
2008	25	6	14	18	10.0	2
2009	15	6	10	13	5.7	1
Totals	240	45	117	171	8.8

There are two instances last year, Hornaday recalls, that show why Kevin Harvick Inc. is successful, and it all comes down to attitude. The first was during a rough patch of races early in the season and the second was after a crash in Phoenix that all but ended Hornaday's bid for the championship.

After a bad stretch of finishes, Hornaday was being hard on himself. Harvick told the team: "You know what, if you guys can't have fun doing this, it's not even worth doing. So you gotta first have fun and if you have fun everything else will fall your way."

It was exactly the words Hornaday needed to hear as he would go on to win six races and challenge Benson for the title.

But at Phoenix, the second-to-last race of the season, Hornaday had what he called a "brain fade" and crashed on the first lap. As Hornaday was apologizing to everyone for ruining the championship, Harvick was calm and offered these words to his distraught driver: "I don't want you to drive any different. That's how you got here right now is by driving hard so you don't worry about that race."

"That's what kind of owner he is, he hired me to do a job and he's never told me how to change my driving style or what to do, he just puts the right people in the right places to fit around my driving style," Hornaday said.

With all the pieces lining up, the No. 33 team is "in their own league" according to Mike Skinner. He says the success of Hornaday all comes to down to one thing: Kevin Harvick.

"It's the race team. Ron is a fantastic driver, but it's the situation, it's the equipment," Skinner said. "If you put him in the 8 truck, he ain't gonna run any better than Dennis Setzer does in it. It's the team. It's the program and they've had years now to get a grip on that.

"If you look at pictures of their stuff going around the race track, their truck is down on the front, its down on the back, its diggin'. If you look at the bodies, they are all sweet. They got the drag out of them but yet they've got a lot of downforce. Their program is just better. They are setting the bar and nobody else out there is in that league. I'm not taking anything away from Ron because he's a great driver, but it's the program."

Hornaday agrees, knowing it's his job to go out and win, but he wouldn't be able to without the crew he has had for years.

"It's all the gel factor," Hornaday said. "You see guys, they are changing the corporations around and putting different crew members with different drivers and crew chiefs. My guys, they've been working together for three years now and everything is gelling.

"We ran good last year. We are just learning by our mistakes and hopefully don't do them again."

For Johnny Benson, he's had fun watching Hornaday's domination off the track and is using it to motivate him in his return.

"Ron has been running great this year but you know what, he ran great last year too," Benson said. "Right now, they are definitely on a roll. They are just hitting on everything the way they need to. It's good to see that, but it's good to see that to a certain extent.

"I don't think it's gonna be fun to watch him win every race but it just gives us more motivation to go beat that next year. I've learned a lot by watching what's going on and it's given me extra motivation to go figure out what it's going to take to go beat that."

Whether looking for the next big thing, helping build a contender, or trying to remain the best, Benson, Skinner and Hornaday all have their work cut out for them the rest of 2009 and into the future.

As all three can attest, things can change in an instant -- one minute you're on top of the world as a champion, the next you are out of a ride just looking for a way back in. But there is one thing we know for sure: Ron Hornaday, Mike Skinner and Johnny Benson will remain in the Truck Series, looking to best each other each and every week, for a long time to come.