Hornaday Penalties After Bubba Rock Truck Hook Under Yellow?
Current NASCAR
Ron Hornaday Jr. faces suspension
Updated: April 15, 2013, 6:56 PM ET
By David Newton | ESPN.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C . -- Four-time Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday Jr. faces possible suspension for wrecking Darrell Wallace Jr. under caution during Sunday's race at Rockingham Speedway.
But the series' all-time wins leader with 51 titles insists his run-in with Wallace should be treated differently than the one he had with Sprint Cup regular Kyle Busch in a 2011 Truck race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Busch was suspended for the Nationwide Series and Cup races at Texas, then fined $50,000 and placed on probation for the rest of the season after he basically took Hornaday out of contention for the Truck title.
"I don't have a reputation for doing it," Hornaday told ESPN.com on Monday when explaining the difference in the two incidents. "I've never been sat down or suspended or been watched in NASCAR. I've never been the bad boy of anything, so I don't know if it's the same or not the same.
"We're sitting there with higher speeds at Texas than [Rockingham]. I really slowed down. I downshifted. I just went up to rub him, just like anybody else does under yellow when they need to door slam somebody to let them know they're mad at them."
Hornaday, 54, wound up sliding across the rear bumper of Wallace's car, turning the 19-year-old driver head on into the wall just as Busch did him two years ago.
"I don't know if I was too far up or he slowed or whatever," Hornaday said. "It just happened so quick. I felt like an idiot about it."
At Texas, Busch was parked immediately. Hornaday was allowed to complete Sunday's race, but was summoned to the NASCAR hauler afterward to discuss that happened.
He said race director Chad Little gave no indication of what the potential penalty might be this week. But he has heard the outcry on social media for him to be suspended just as Busch was.
"I put them in a box," Hornaday said of NASCAR. "We shouldn't even be talking about it today. I guess you take whatever they give you. I hope it's not too harsh.
"People can say that they want to say, but nobody feels worse than I do. I praised myself for 34 years of driving to have respect and be the hard racer, the guy you have to beat when you go to the track. Now I feel like I'm the dirty driver, the bad driver, the whole deal."
But again, Hornaday insisted this was different than what happened with Busch even though the result was the same. He noted that Busch had a whole straightaway to think about what he was going to do and didn't let off the rear bumper of his car until he was in the fence.
He also reminded that he and Busch and then-team owner Kevin Harvick had a history that may have played a role in the Texas incident even though NASCAR president said history didn't play a role in the suspension.
Hornaday said he didn't have issues with Wallace before Sunday.
"The kid has never done anything wrong to me," Hornaday said. "We raced hard together that day. Were we upset with each other? Yeah. I was just letting him know I didn't accept that he tried to drive me into the fence the lap before that.
"But I still turned him into the fence. It's uncalled for. ... Even your worst enemy you wouldn't turn toward the fence."
