FanHouse RonHornaday

We're still a few months away from learning who the first five inductees into the NASCAR Hall of Fame will be, giving us a little time to banter back and forth about who should be in that critical first class.

I'm curious to see how everything plays out with the criteria for induction. With three premier but separate series – the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series – how do you arrive at the finalists given the dominant success several drivers have enjoyed across the three different divisions?

Hidden beneath the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and even under the Nationwide Series, sits NASCAR's third-most prestigious national racing series -- the Craftsman Truck Series.

Though next season it's currently in position to take on simply the name of "NASCAR Truck Series" as the Craftsman, the corporate sponsor sits the series began in 1995, will depart. No new sponsor has been found.

Combine that with other factors influencing NASCAR's Double-A league, and the outlook is less than rosy.

Just last Saturday in Richmond, word spread through the garage area that Dodge would be dropping its factory support money of the entire series -- though it only affects one team, Bobby Hamilton Racing. As a result, the team suspended operations of its No. 4 truck and will focus solely on the No. 18 for the rest of 2008.

Dodge's support has been dwindling in recent years, but pulling out entirely truly signifies that the manufacturer feels it can't compete and that it is simply losing money on the attempt to sell more pick-up trucks via NASCAR truck racing.

Sprint Cup driver Kevin Harvick owns the Craftsman Truck Series truck raced by Ron Hornaday.

Saturday afternoon at Michigan International Speedway, they were both on the same page in doing one thing: hating on Kyle Busch.

Busch drove into the left-rear of Hornaday in turn one on the final lap of the 200-lap CTS event won by Erik Darnell, knocking the CTS point leader into a spin and out of a top-10 finish. That set both driver and owner off, as they chased Busch through the garage area and had a heated discussion. Harvick and Busch later talked to the media:

"He just drove into me because he got mad because I took us four wide and passed him cleanly," Hornaday said. "Halfway through the race, he showed me he was upset because he lifted the back of the truck up. If he is going to race that way, that is pretty chicken. He doesn't deserve to be a racer.

Anybody catch the NASCAR Craftsman Series Truck race last night? What a wild finish.

I only caught the last 17 or so laps--when I tuned in championship battlers Mike Skinner and Ron Hornaday were running 7th and 8th with only three points separating them in the standings. I almost kept the remote moving ... nothing to see here. But I know better than that.

With four laps to go, Hornaday and Skinner were leading the field on a restart--rookie Chad McCumbee put the moves on both veteran drivers passing them three wide on the low side. Chaos ensued. McCumbee led the next restart and, with a two-lap green / white checker finish, appeared on track to collect his first series win.

McCumbee spun his tires on the restart, though, collecting Jack Sprague and making way for Ted Musgrave to score his first win since his 2005 championship season.