A 22nd-position start may not be considered groundbreaking but it sounds like a dream come true for 17-year-old NASCAR Truck Series debutant Landen Lewis. Starting his professional racing career at the ARCA Menards Series in 2021, the then-15-year-old Lewis ran three races during the season. In his second career start at Southern Illinois 100, Landen Lewis went on to win the title, leading for all 104 laps of the race. Seeing Lewis’ racing prowess, NASCAR Hall of Famer, Class of 2018, Ron Hornaday Jr took the young talent under his wing. 

Now making his Truck Series debut with Roper Racing at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Landen Lewis’ proud mentor has made a bold claim about the 17-year-old.

Ron Hornaday Jr makes an outrageous claim about his NASCAR prodigy

Having four Truck Series championship titles, Ron Hornaday Jr is known in the NASCAR community for being a great helping hand off the track. With the aid of his wife Lindy, Hornaday Jr hosted young drivers, crew members, and track officials at their home in Mooresville, North Carolina. Having no place to stay while in North Carolina, several young drivers would find a home with Hornaday and his wife, crashing on their couch for days on end. Of those young talents, the most notable ones were seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and even Kevin Harvick, who were not only given a place to stay but also mentored by the legendary Truck Series champion.

History repeats again, and it sure did for Landen Lewis who found a home in the Hornaday household in 2023. Apparently staying with Hornaday Jr’s daughter, the young star found a mentor in him. Helping Lewis hone his skills, the four-time Truck Series champion was at the forefront of the 17-year-old’s Truck Series debut. While Landen Lewis is eyeing to just complete the race, Hornaday Jr feels his Truck Series prodigy has race-winning potential. Recently speaking to Fox on NASCAR at Mid-Ohio, he made an outrageous claim. 

“It’s pretty unbelievable. At 17 years old! Heck, I didn’t start racing Trucks until I was 35…I think he is putting Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick to shame because he is a lot younger starting out. They were a little older, but he just got the willpower, the one. He just studies racing, he loves racing. He works on all cars all day long and I’ve never seen the focus on them”, said Hornaday Jr, commenting on how Landen Lewis outshined the talent of Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick in their rookie era.

Fierce on the track and a kind, caring soul off it, Ron Hornaday Jr was inducted into NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers list in 2023. Following his induction into NASCAR’s Hall of Fame for the Class of 2018, former mentee, Jimmie Johnson had a lot to say about Hornaday Jr.

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Coming to the East Coast for a late-model test in the early 2000s, Jimmie Johnson was looking for a place to stay. Offered a place to stay in the meantime at Ron Hornaday’s home, the seven-time Cup Series champion ended up crashing on Hornaday Jr’s couch for 6 months.

Remembering his time at Ron Hornaday’s home, Jimmie Johnson said to NASCAR’s Tom Jensen, “He and Lindy just had open arms and told me, ‘If you are ever in North Carolina, we will give you a place to stay. Come stay with us’. I needed a couch to sleep on, I moved in. They wouldn’t let me move out. I stayed there for six months until Ron, on one of his Harley rides, found a home that he thought I could afford and seemed like a good buy, and I bought my first house.’”

“They have been amazing to me and to many others in the sport, not just drivers. There are officials walking up and down pit road that have all bunked at his home, crew members from all over the place. Ron’s contribution to our sport not only includes the amazing things he did on the track but so many things off the track”, Johnson added.

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With Ron Hornaday Jr having made a bold claim about Landen Lewis, will the 17-year-old sensation live up to the legend’s expectations?