Ron Hornaday Jr. has been known for his quick, biting wit and for offering up the couch at his family home to aspiring young racers almost as much as he has for winning four NASCAR Truck Series championships.

He visited with the media last Sunday prior to the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and touched on a number of subjects, including, of course, his reaction to recently being voted a member of the upcoming 2018 class to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

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The 58-year-old Hornaday said that he isn’t sure he’ll be able to give his Hall acceptance speech within the time that he’s been told will be allotted.

“They said I’m going to have seven minutes to make my acceptance speech,” Hornaday said. “I told them they might have to let me keep talking through a (television) commercial, because I’ve got a lot of people to thank.”

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Asked how many congratulatory messages he’s received since the Hall news came down last week, Hornaday admitted he wasn’t quite sure.

“I’ve actually still got a job, and I’ve been working,” he said. “I haven’t really looked at my phone and answered all my messages. The Hall contacted me and said I was the only one who hadn’t contacted them back yet. … I told them I was new to social media.”

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Hornaday said he received some sound advice years ago from none other than Kevin Harvick regarding social media. Hornday used to drive for Harvick in the Truck Series when the 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion fielded teams.

“I used to have an old flip-top phone, and Harvick always used to tell me in team meetings, ‘You’re going to have to get rid of that phone because you’re going to have to start doing social media soon,’ “ Hornaday said. “I think my wife got me an IPhone 7 now, so we’ve got to figure out how to turn it on and answer all the questions.”

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Hornaday said he received some sound advice years ago from none other than Kevin Harvick regarding social media. Hornday used to drive for Harvick in the Truck Series when the 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion fielded teams.

“I used to have an old flip-top phone, and Harvick always used to tell me in team meetings, ‘You’re going to have to get rid of that phone because you’re going to have to start doing social media soon,’ “ Hornaday said. “I think my wife got me an IPhone 7 now, so we’ve got to figure out how to turn it on and answer all the questions.”

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Hornaday said one of the few congratulatory texts he did get around to reading was from Sprague. So naturally, he decided to mess with his former rival a little bit.

“When Jack texted me and said, ‘Good job’ and added a few four-letter words like he always does, I told him and said, ‘Yeah, and you should say how much it paid.’ He was like, ‘What?! You get paid for that – and they didn’t induct me?’ “ Hornaday said.

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Of course, in reality there is no cash handed out for being voted into the Hall. Not that Hornaday or any of the others who have earned the honor require any.

“The thing that pays is the respect from all these guys (who will go into the Hall with him), and all those who already are in the Hall of Fame,” said Hornaday, nodding to Robert Yates and Ken Squier, who were sitting next to him during the media session and also were voted in last week.

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Asked to expand on being the first driver and champion from the Truck Series to be in the Hall, Hornaday reflected on the road traveled – and meals shared with everyone from Jimmie Johnson to Dale Earnhardt Jr. to Kevin Harvick — to get there.

“Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, you name it and they probably stayed on our couch,” Hornaday said. “Jimmie called me and finally got ahold of me. I was like 30 feet in the air on a scaffold, welding something for this job I took on with a buddy of mine. I guess he said it best: all the Taco Tuesdays and everything we had at the house, just talking about racing, really paid off.”

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