Tuesday, November 1st 'What If' Question

It's never smart to count out the master of the Camping World Truck Series, Ron Hornaday.

The four-time champion entered the 2011 season looking to join Sprint Cup Series driver Jimmie Johnson as a five-time title winner. But things got off to a rocky start and Hornaday and his No. 33 team have been fighting to get out of a hole ever since. Before the month of September he was sitting outside the top five in points, ninth, and was 68 points behind leader Johnny Sauter.

Even though he had a victory, which came after leader Sauter was black flagged on a green-white-checkered finish, it seemed that it might be time to remove Hornaday from championship talk. A fuel mileage win in Atlanta helped him climb to fifth in points and 48 markers out of the lead, momentum starting to swing. Except next two races Hornaday finished 10th and fifth and had only gained one point in the standings.

Then team owner Kevin Harvick made the decision to put Hornaday in the No. 2 truck in order to help that team win the owner's championship. Hornaday would still get the driver points during his stint in the 2 truck. Suddenly, Hornaday was unbeatable. He won back-to-back races in the 2 at Kentucky and Las Vegas. In Talladega he finished second to teammate Mike Wallace (who was driving the 33 in Hornaday's absence) before he took back over the No. 33 at Martinsville where he finished second.

Hornaday now sits third in points only 15 behind Austin Dillon. The season only has two races remaining, Texas and Homestead, and Hornaday has gone from longshot to one of the favorites. Don't look now, but that veteran might just school the young guns in front of him.

But ...

What if Ron Hornaday hadn't been put in the No. 2 KHI truck at the start of September, would he still have fought back into title contention? (He has two wins and second place finish in the No. 2 and went from 68 to 15 points behind in the standings...) #NASCAR

@Talon64 The way he was running with the #33 crew, never. CC Bruce Cook brought his season and title hopes back to life

@chuckallen2 It's Hornaday, so he definitely could've done it with his 33. This worked out well,whatever the reason.