Ron Hornaday Jr. compares Landen Lewis to NASCAR legends Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick

There are people in NASCAR that know a lot more than me. Ron Hornaday Jr. included, and he’s got high praise for Landen Lewis. Lewis is set to make his first career Truck Series start at Mid-Ohio on Saturday. Ahead of the big-time start, Hornaday Jr. has a lot of confidence in his new young driver.

Hornaday Jr. was there to help with Kevin Harvick’s career. He was there to help Jimmie Johnson out. This kid Landen Lewis seems to be on that level, at least if you take Hornaday’s word for it.

While at Mid-Ohio, the 17-year-old took questions, and so did the Team Hornaday Development owner. You can tell Lewis has a lot of maturity beyond his years. His mentor seems to have an idea as to why that is.

“I think he’s putting Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick to shame because he’s a lot younger starting out and they’re a little older. He’s just got the willpower, the want. He studies racing he loves racing. He works on all the cars all day long,” Hornaday said on the FS1 broadcast on Friday, via TobyChristie.com.

That is very high praise for Landen Lewis. He has a tough road ahead of him as he starts P22 in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 150 at Mid-Ohio. This is a great chance to get some time on the track and to figure things out in the No. 04 truck. Maybe Lewis can pull off a nice finish despite his starting position.

Landen Lewis might have to race in rain for Truck Series deut

Based on his results in practice and qualifying, you can tell that Landen Lewis is new to this Truck Series stuff. You can also tell that he might be a little cautious about making the twists and turns of Mid-Ohio. That could all be according to plan as he tries to navigate this field for the first time.

It could be a very interesting debut as rain is threatening to make this a wet weather race. There are three sets of treaded tires for each team, so they will be able to race in the rain regardless of what happens.

Lewis has moved up the ranks of the ARCA West and East Series as well as the national series in ARCA. In those three series combined, Lewis has three wins, 14 top-10s, and two pole awards. Lewis got a win earlier this season at Portland International Raceway.

So, with road course experience and wins under his belt, could we see Landen Lewis begin his NASCAR journey in a big way this weekend?