Self-taught Ren prideful of adapting to different styles (cont'd)

While Ren, in NASCAR since 1990, is currently charged with leading the Truck Series' most successful driver to a fourth championship, he also has helped groom young talent along the way.

"He did a great job of kind of introducing me to NASCAR racing and the Truck Series, and he was a veteran crew chief that had success in the past," said Travis Kvapil, whom Ren led to two wins and the 2001 rookie of the year honors. "He was a guy that I really looked up to help me figure out how to race in the Truck Series."

Even Hornaday, at the top of his game with three championships and 45 career Truck Series wins, admires and trusts his pit boss.

"Rick sometimes comes up with crazy ideas and experiments which I question, but it usually works out in the end," Hornaday said. "He has a way of bringing the guys together, teaching them when they make mistakes, and working with them to make them better workers and people.

"He has worked with lots of drivers and has a way of being able to give me what I need in a truck," Hornaday continued. "Now, he and I have disagreements, but I told him when he started working at KHI in 2007, I would drive the truck and he could make the calls. It has worked out pretty good for us."

Sure, it's worked out pretty well for the KHI bunch, but would the No. 33 team be disappointed with anything short of the 2009 Truck Series championship?

"Yeah, I think we really would be," confessed Ren, at KHI since early 2007. "It was pretty rough last year not winning it. We sat back over the winter and talked about what we needed to do differently. I've seen a difference in the way Hornaday is driving. I've seen a difference in the way my guys attack their work and I work really hard on my pit calls.

"So, I think the whole team has taken it upon ourselves to not let happen again what happened last year. We can always have flat tires and mechanical failures but we don't need to shoot ourselves in the foot with things that are in our control."

Win or lose the final 10 races or the championship, Ren always will have a special place in NASCAR history.

"It's been a really good run and was kind of cool to do something that hasn't been done in 38 years," he said. "It may never happen again. It may happen before this year is over -- someone else may win six in a row. The season's not over but at least it's cool to be a part of NASCAR history in one form or another."