Hornish, the three-time IndyCar Series champion from Defiance, Ohio, will soon be making a choice between taking the plunge into a career in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series or continuing to make his mark in the IndyCar Series. Today, Hornish will prepare for Saturday’s NASCAR Busch Series Carfax 250 at Michigan International Speedway.
By Mike Pryson, Mlive.com
Aug 14, 2007
Three-time IndyCar Series champion Sam Hornish Jr. will make his Michigan International Speedway NASCAR Busch Series debut Saturday, Aug. 18 in the CARFAX 250.
Read More.. Auto Racing Daily
July 20, 2007
Hornish refuted the prevailing rumor that he already has made up his mind and that owner Roger Penske will add a third car to his NASCAR team next year for Hornish.
“I’d say where I’m at right now, the scales are 50-50,” said Hornish, of Defiance, Ohio. “I haven’t made any decision; the team hasn’t made a decision. By Tim May, The Columbus Dispatch
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Nate Ryan frorm USA Today: But just below the banners in the town square are signs why Hornish might desert the open-wheel circuit that has been the center of his universe since slightly before his July 2, 1979, birth date (his mother, Jo Ellen, attended the Indy 500 that year eight months pregnant with the last of five kids).
In the front window of Spanky’s (“Home of the Giant Taco”) is a life-size cutout of Dale Earnhardt Jr. holding a Budweiser, promoting karaoke on Wednesdays and weekends. There’s another billboard of NASCAR’s most popular driver just a mile down the road from the trucking company owned by Hornish’s parents and the General Motors powertrain plant on the edge of town.
They are reminders that even though Hornish capped a career season with a third IRL IndyCar Series championship last year, he hasn’t reached the pinnacle of auto racing in America. That mantle belongs to NASCAR, and even in a town such as this, the sport spawned by bootleggers in the Southeast has established a foothold.
Jim Utter from The Charlotte Observer: Hornish, a 27-year-old native of Defiance, Ohio, entered two Busch races last season and has been running a mixed schedule of Busch and Automobile Racing Club of America series races this year for Penske with mixed success. His best Busch finish was 15th at Atlanta.
Hornish seemed somewhat disillusioned by the Indy Racing League in comments following Saturday night’s IndyCar Series race at Richmond, Va.
“You feel like they don’t need you sometimes,” Hornish told the PA SportsTicker. “They’ve got their stars. That’s another reason why you might want to do something else.
“It has to be something the team wants to do one way or another. There are lots of variables. I don’t want to go over there and run and if we’re not in The Chase and I get dropped.”
Curt Cavin from IndyStar.com: Sam Hornish Jr. ‘s wife jokes about her husband’s indecisiveness on most issues. Suffice it to say, the three-time IndyCar Series champion and former Indianapolis 500 winner does not yet know what he wants to do about driving a race car in 2008.
Neither does his team.
Penske Racing president Tim Cindric insists the team is still in the evaluation process regarding Hornish’s future in stock-car racing. Hornish is running a limited Busch Series schedule this season, with his next race Aug. 18 at Michigan International Speedway.
“I’m sure we won’t have anything before then, ” Cindric said.
Hornish has had mixed results in his five Busch races this season, though he finished second in his only ARCA RE/MAX Series event (at Michigan).
Jim McConnell from Fredericksburg.com: So while it might be easier for Hornish to remain in the Indy Racing League, win a few more Indianapolis 500s and establish himself as one of open-wheel racing’s all-time legends, there’s an intriguing opportunity on the horizon that just might persuade him to step out of his comfort zone and never look back.
Hornish, who will make his seventh career IRL start at Richmond International Raceway in Saturday’s SunTrust Indy Challenge, has also competed in five Busch Series events this season—part of a limited 11-race schedule that some believe will lead him into NASCAR on a full-time basis with Penske Racing in 2008.
At the moment, Hornish is keeping all of his options open.
“Race car drivers are like all successful people; once you accomplish one goal, you set a new one, ” he said during a telephone interview Tuesday. “You’re always looking ahead to the next thing—what’s going to be your next challenge? ”
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