Matt Crafton's eighth-place run allowed Hornaday to take a 215-point lead over Crafton with next week's race at Homestead the only race remaining. Hornaday needed at least a 195-point advantage over the second-place driver after Phoenix to clinch the title before the season-finale.

Hornaday had to overcome a pit-road mishap early in the race when he was penalized after his pit crew did not sufficiently refuel the truck on the first round of stops. He had to restart from the tail end of the lead lap, but charged through the field to finish far enough ahead of Crafton.

"I wish Jack Sprague were out here racing me; I've got four, now you've got to come back and get another one," said Hornaday, who joined Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon as those drivers who have won four or more titles in one of NASCAR's top-three series.

Hornaday tied Sprague for a series-tying third series championship in 2007. Last year, Hornaday lost the title to Johnny Benson by just seven points.

Sprague has not competed in a truck event since the end of the 2008 season when he drove for Wyler Racing. Hornaday's first two titles came in 1996 and '98. He also became the oldest NASCAR national touring series champion at 51 years, four months and 24 days.

"We're not done yet, we've got to get that owner's [championship] for Kevin and DeLana [Harvick]," Hornaday added.

Homestead will decide the car owners point battle, as Kyle Busch's second- place finish allowed Billy Ballew Motorsports to move within 60 points of leader Kevin Harvick Inc. for the owner's title.

Hornaday became just the second driver in the series' 15-year history to clinch the championship with one race remaining. Greg Biffle won his first title before the 2000 season concluded in California.

Harvick picked up his fifth victory in his 100th career truck start. Four of his five wins have come at Phoenix. He won at Martinsville earlier this year. Harvick rebounded from a spin while leading on the seventh lap. He slid up the track and bumped into Aric Almirola, causing him to turn around just before the entrance of pit road. Harvick slid in an area where Jamie Dick dropped oil on the track.

"I thought I had screwed it up there in the beginning," Harvick said. "I thought I got into oil and I just spun out. [Crew chief] Ernie [Cope] said the tire was bald when we came in, so it just kind of took me a while to get back into the swing of things."

Harvick drove past Almirola and reclaimed the lead with 56 laps remaining. He then held off Busch on several late-race restarts, including a green-white- checkered finish. The 151-lap race ended under caution on the final lap when Tayler Malsam got turned around. Harvick denied Busch his sixth win in the last six truck races he has entered.

"[Harvick's] truck was so strong; It was going to be hard to hold him off," said Busch, who leads the series with seven victories this season.

Almirola finished third, while Johnny Sauter, the pole sitter, took the fifth spot. Mike Skinner was sixth, and Mike Bliss, making his first start as replacement driver for Terry Cook at HT Motorsports, came in seventh.

David Starr and Stacy Compton completed the top-10.