Throwback Hornaday wins record fourth Truck title

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- It was less than an hour before the start of the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway, and Jimmie Johnson finally was asked a few questions about winning a fourth NASCAR championship that did not pertain to himself.

Years ago, when Johnson was just starting out in NASCAR, it was Ron Hornaday who invited the young racer into his home and provided Johnson with a couch on which to sleep. That story is a familiar one and has been told many times, but it's worth telling again and again.

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Race winner Kevin Harvick celebrates with Truck champ Ron Hornaday at Phoenix.

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Who knew then that either tenant or landlord would capture four championships?

Johnson gets the lion's share of the publicity these days as he hunts down his own fourth Cup Series trophy, but Hornaday beat him to the four-title punch Friday night by clinching the 2009 Camping World Truck Series championship at PIR. He also won Truck titles in 1996, 1998 and 2007, respectively.

That puts Hornaday in rarified NASCAR air. Johnson likely will join the exclusive four-championship club soon enough -- although with only a 73-point lead over Mark Martin and two Cup races still remaining, it's not a complete lock.

But at least until Johnson's fourth becomes official, Hornaday joins an elite group of NASCAR royalty who own four titles or more. Only Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, with seven each, have won more. Only Jeff Gordon has won as many in one of NASCAR's three national touring series.

"I'm just happy for him," Johnson said prior to Hornaday's clinching party Friday, shortly after qualifying third for this Sunday's Cup race. "I saw him earlier and asked him if he was having fun. He looked at me with a crazy look and said, 'I always have fun.'

"Well, that is true."

Home, sweet, home

Johnson, of course, is not the only member of the racing fraternity to have benefited from Hornaday's generosity. While he can appear gruff at times on the outside, Hornaday is all heart on the inside.

His past two championships have come while driving for owner Kevin Harvick, another former couch dweller at the Hornaday home. In fact, there was a time when Johnson slept on one couch there and Harvick on another.

"When I was on a couch, Harvick's [sleeping] bag was over on the couch next to the one I was staying on," Johnson said. "We'd pass each other [going to and] from race weekends and stuff like that. So to have that opportunity to give back to Ron is pretty special for him, too." (Continued)