Jack Roush helps Ron Hornaday ‘as lesser of the evils’ over Toyota

By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Saturday, November 08, 2008
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Team owner Jack Roush waits on pit road at Phoenix International Raceway.

Todd Warshaw
Getty Images for NASCAR

AVONDALE, Ariz. – It was a strange sight Friday night during the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race when Jack Roush sent some crewmen to help repair the Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet of Ron Hornaday during the Lucas Oil 150.
 
When Johnny Benson wrecked his Bill Davis Racing Toyota, there was no help from Roush. Hornaday and Benson are in a tight race for the Truck title.
 
So it looked pretty obvious that this was an anti-Toyota move – “I didn’t see anybody helping us,” quipped Benson’s team owner Bill Davis – and Roush explained his reasoning Saturday afternoon:
 
“The thing about Hornaday is that he is [Edwards’ Nationwide Series crew chief] Drew Blickensderfer’s father-in-law,” Roush said. “So every time Hornaday has run into one of our guys in the Truck series – which has happened repeatedly – Drew has paid the price. I have thrashed him pretty hard for it. I felt that I owed Drew that last night since we had capacity, we had fabricators and we didn’t have anything involved in the wreck.
 
“Kevin Harvick flagged me down when he was in the Nationwide car ready to qualify. I had walked up to watch one of our guys qualify. … He flagged me over and wanted to thank me. He did thank me and I appreciate that
 
“I said, ‘Do not misunderstand. I do not like Ron Hornaday. I don’t want anybody to get that impression.' But he definitely was the lesser of the evils that I was confronted with. You need to pick your friends as carefully as you need to pick your enemies, and I had a chance to define some space there and I think I made the right call.”

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