Beginnings Hornaday was born in
Palmdale, California, and began racing in
go-karts and
motorcycles early in his career. Eventually, he moved up to race
stock cars at
Saugus Speedway. In 1992, he won his first championship in the Southwest Series as well as winning the Most Popular Driver award. He won the Southwest championship the next year as well, becoming the only driver to do so in series history until Jim Pettit won back-to-back titles in 2004–2005. Pettit won the title again in 2011 in the SRL Southwest Tour Series. Hornaday made his
Winston Cup debut in 1992 at the
Save Mart 300K, where he started seventeenth but finished 32nd in Bob Fisher's No. 92
Chevrolet. He made another start later that year at
Phoenix International Raceway, where he finished 25th. He ran at Phoenix the next year as well, finishing 22nd in the No. 76
Spears Motorsports car.
1995–1999 Hornaday signed to drive the No. 16 RCCA Products /
Papa John's Pizza Chevrolet C/K owned by
Dale Earnhardt, Inc. for the then-start-up Super Truck Series. In the first season of competition, Hornaday won six races and four poles on his way to a third place points finish. The next year, with sponsorship from
NAPA Auto Parts, Hornaday won four races and the series championship. In 1997, despite seven wins, two of which came by leading every lap in the race, he finished fifth in points. He was able to reclaim his title in 1998 by garnering six wins and sixteen top-fives out of 27 races. At
Memphis 200 he celebrated with a
burnout, which was unusual at the time, and made team owner Dale Earnhardt angry for risking damaging the powertrain. Also in 1998, Hornaday made his
Busch Series debut, driving four races for
ST Motorsports, his best finish an eighth at
Pikes Peak International Raceway. He also debuted a Winston Cup car for
Tim Beverly at Sonoma, finishing fourteenth in the No. 17 NAPA Chevy. Hornaday came close to a truck victory at Watkins Glen in the 1998 Parts America 150 in which he led all but twelve laps, only to lose the race due to a final-lap penalty for jumping the restart; Hornaday would pull into victory lane post-race only to be told that he had in fact finished fourth. In 1999, Hornaday won the one-hundredth race ran in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series history at the
Evergreen Speedway in
Monroe, Washington. He was one of four drivers entered in the race that competed in every truck race since its inception at the time for an extra $100,000 if he won, which he did. However, he was unable to capitalize on it and win the championship, finishing seventh in the final standings after an up and down year. Fortunately, he was given an opportunity late in the year to replace Dale Earnhardt Jr. in driving the No. 3 NAPA Chevy for DEI's Busch program with Earnhardt moving up to the Cup Series, and he announced that he would do so the following year.
2000–2004 Hornaday began racing full-time in the Busch Series in 2000. He picked up wins at
Nazareth Speedway and
Indianapolis Raceway Park and finished fifth in points, runner-up to
Kevin Harvick for
Rookie of the Year honors. He was also voted Most Popular Driver. However, Earnhardt elected to move Hornaday's team up to the Cup Series in 2001 and hire
Michael Waltrip to drive the car, and Hornaday was released. Hornaday signed with
A.J. Foyt Racing in the Cup Series, driving the No. 14
Conseco Pontiac Grand Prix. Despite posting a 9th-place finish at
Las Vegas, Hornaday struggled throughout the year and finished 38th in points with just two top-twenty finishes and four DNQ's in the second half of the season. Hornaday later criticized Foyt for dismissing him so late in the season, although Foyt unsuccessfully offered Hornaday a Cup Series return in mid-2002. During the 2001 season, Hornaday returned to the Busch Series on a part-time basis, running the No. 11 for
HighLine Performance Group before finishing out the year with The
Curb Agajanian Performance Group, posting three top-tens. In 2002, Hornaday drove for
Hendrick Motorsports' truck team at the season-opening
Florida Dodge Dealers 250, where he finished 12th. After Hendrick closed the doors to its truck team, Hornaday moved to their Busch program, filling in for an injured
Ricky Hendrick in the No. 5
GMAC Chevy, his best finish fifteenth at
Darlington Raceway. A few races later, he replaced
Lyndon Amick in the No. 26
Dr Pepper car for Carroll Racing. He had eight top-tens and a pole, finishing eighteenth in points despite only running thirty of the 36 races. He also capped the season off with a win in the Truck Series at
Homestead-Miami Speedway, driving for
Xpress Motorsports. In 2003, Hornaday signed to drive the No. 2
ACDelco Chevy for
Richard Childress Racing. He won at Nazareth and posted seventeen top-tens, finishing third in points. Hornaday was noted for his consistency in 2003, as he finished all 34 races and completed all but thirty laps run over the entire season. In 2004, he followed up with a win at
The Milwaukee Mile and sixteen more top-ten finishes. Hornaday again finished all the races he started and finished fourth in points.
2005–2011 in 2005 At the end of 2004, Hornaday was released in favor of
Clint Bowyer, and he returned to the Truck Series full-time. He reunited with a long-time best friend of his,
Kevin Harvick, and signed to drive the No. 6
GM Goodwrench Chevy for Kevin Harvick Incorporated. Hornaday soon picked up a win at
Atlanta Motor Speedway and finished fifth in points. In 2006, the team lost its Goodwrench sponsorship and switched to the No. 33 to field the No. 6 to Mark Martin's Roush Racing effort. Running unsponsored for most of the year, Hornaday picked up two victories this year at
Mansfield and
Kentucky. He also had two top-tens in five Busch Series starts that year. With sponsorship backing from
Camping World, Hornaday continued his dominance in the Truck Series in 2007, winning races at two tracks for the first time in his career. He took the checkers at
Lowe's in the
Quaker Steak & Lube 200. Two weeks later, after a what-should-have-been-a-win-weekend at
Mansfield, Hornaday outlasted
Kyle Busch to win the
AAA Insurance 200 at
Dover. He continued his chase for a third title with a victory at
O'Reilly Raceway Park in the
Power Stroke Diesel 200, his 17th win on a short track. On November 16, 2007, Hornaday won his third NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship by overcoming a 29-point deficit on Mike Skinner. On September 10, 2008, ESPN's
Shaun Assael reported Hornaday admitted to using testosterone cream. He used it to treat
Graves' disease. On December 21, 2008, Hornaday's father
Ron Hornaday Sr., died due to cancer. On June 20, 2009, Hornaday won the
Copart 200 at the
Milwaukee Mile on his 51st birthday. He is one of the few racing drivers to win a race on his birthday. On July 24, 2009, Hornaday became the first Camping World Truck Series driver to win four races in a row by winning at O'Reilly Raceway Park. On August 1, 2009, he won the
Toyota Tundra 200 at
Nashville Superspeedway, tying
Richard Petty and
Bobby Allison as the only drivers to win five consecutive races in their NASCAR careers. On November 13, 2009, Hornaday won his fourth Camping World Truck Series championship, joining
Jeff Gordon,
Richard Petty,
Dale Earnhardt, and
Jimmie Johnson as the only drivers to win four or more titles in the three major series of NASCAR. He also became the first driver since
Greg Biffle in 2000 to clinch the title before the last race of the season. For the final three races of the
2010 Sprint Cup season,
Stewart–Haas Racing hired Hornaday as a standby driver should expectant father
Ryan Newman have to leave the track. Newman became a father on November 18, 2010, three days before the season finale. In 2011, Hornaday won four races. However, in the later stages of the season, he struggled with consistency, compared to his other seasons. As a result, Hornaday drove three races in the #2 KHI truck, to help the team catch up in the standings. By the time he was back in the No. 33 truck, Hornaday was second in the series being 15 points behind Austin Dillon when he reached the
penultimate race of the year at Texas. There Hornaday raced behind rival
Kyle Busch and reached second place. When Hornaday passed by Busch on lap thirteen, he made contact with Busch to avoid a slowing truck of
Johnny Chapman and in the next turn under a caution, Busch intentionally slammed into Hornaday pushing him head-on into the wall. Hornaday was mathematically eliminated from contention for the Truck title. Busch received suspension from the NNS and NSCS race that weekend as a result. Hornaday later said that after hearing Busch's arrogance after the incident, he was going to settle matters with Busch at the end of the race, but was restrained and instead had a phone call with Busch a couple days after that sizzled the feud.
2012–2014 in 2013 During the 2011 season, it was announced that Hornaday would drive for
Joe Denette Motorsports for the 2012 season in the No. 9 Anderson's Maple Syrup Chevrolet. Before the 2013 season, Hornaday returned to JDM, now
NTS Motorsports, to drive the No. 9 truck. Hornaday started off on a high note in his finishes with a few Top 10's in the first few races. In the third race of the season at
Rockingham Speedway, Hornaday intentionally wrecked rookie
Bubba Wallace under caution to retaliate for prior contact. He was penalized during the race to restart in 37th spot. For his actions, Hornaday was fined $25,000, lost 25 points and was placed on probation by
NASCAR until June 12. The penalty dropped him from fourth to fifteenth in the Truck Series standings. Although many called for Hornaday to be suspended the same way
Kyle Busch was in 2011, NASCAR did not implement a suspension, ruling that although Hornaday's actions were similar, the circumstances between both cases were different. With one race remaining in the season, Hornaday was released from the No. 9 truck by NTS Motorsports; in the season finale he drove a sixth truck for
Turner Scott Motorsports, finishing 5th. He started the
2014 season once again driving for TSM in the No. 30 truck at
Daytona International Speedway, with former
KHI sponsor
Rheem backing the team. Due to an internal dispute within TSM, Hornaday did not race at
Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, after it was initially reported that all three truck teams would shut down. Two days later on September 2, Hornaday was released and Turner Scott Motorsports dissolved the 30 team, with owners Steve Turner and Harry Scott Jr. in the process of filing lawsuits against each other. Hornaday was fourth in points prior to the Canada race, and still sixth in points when he was released. On September 13, it was announced that
Rheem would partner again with Hornaday at Las Vegas and Texas later that year with
NTS Motorsports, the team that had released him in 2013. He missed six races late in the season and was fourteenth in points at the season's end.
Brief Cup Series return On January 21, 2015,
Curtis Key's
The Motorsports Group announced that Hornaday would be their primary driver for 2015, running the No. 30 Chevy in the
Sprint Cup Series. It marked Hornaday's first return to the Cup Series since 2003. The primary sponsor was announced as Hornaday's Truck sponsor, Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff. In his first attempt, Hornaday failed to qualify for the
Daytona 500 after posting the slowest time in qualifying and then lacking the necessary speed to stay in the draft in his Budweiser Duel race. In his second attempt, Hornaday qualified and made his first race in 12 years. Hornaday finished 42nd due to a breaking in his rear gear. His team skipped the next three races in the West Coast swing to prepare for Martinsville. He did not qualify after wrecking his car during qualifying. After Hornaday once again failed to qualify at
Bristol, he and the team parted ways. On his brief return to Sprint Cup competition and his sudden retirement, Hornaday said in a 2016 interview,
"That was helping a team get started and all that stuff. It didn’t seem to work out. I was always the guy, I told my wife that I’m not going to go out there and ride around just for a paycheck. If I wasn’t competitive I wasn’t going to do it. That (opportunity) didn’t work out. But I’ve got a lot of opportunities. People call me and say, ‘Hey, do you want to drive Martinsville?’ I said ‘Yeah, I’d love to.’ And they’d say, ‘Well, how much money can you bring?’ That ain’t racing to me anymore so…it’s back to dirt racing and having fun.” Hornaday has not raced in NASCAR since. He is currently a dirt modified chassis builder, owning Hornaday Race Cars. ==Recognition==