Sam Hornish Jr. put an end to the rumors Friday, saying he is committed to NASCAR and will not return to the IndyCar Series in 2009.
Hornish, a three-time IndyCar Series champion and the 2006 Indy 500 champion, is a rookie this season in Sprint Cup. Hornish has struggled, posting only three finishes in the top 20 and no finishes in the top 10.
But Hornish said he is committed to making things work on the No. 77 Dodge team at Penske Racing.
“I think all of that is basically untrue,” Hornish said at Phoenix International Raceway, where he made his Cup Series debut last season. “I don’t know where we got off on the wrong foot there, but it all started basically when Dario decided to go and run Indy cars and then all the questions started coming on what I was going to do.
“But I’m focused on running here, and I’m focused on trying to be the best Sprint Cup driver I can be. I came over because I wanted the challenge of doing this. I wanted to see it out. I wanted to get to the point where I felt like I could win races.”
Hornish, one of the most successful American drivers in open-wheel history, isn’t close to winning races yet in NASCAR. He had a successful season debut with a 15th-place finish in the Daytona 500, but it’s been all downhill since.
The No. 77 Dodge fell out of the top 35 in points, forcing Hornish to qualify his car on speed each week, and he failed to make the cut last month at Talladega. A 13th-place finish at Charlotte in May was his best showing of the season, and he’s led only two laps all year.
Penske Racing president Tim Cindric said switching Hornish back to the team’s IndyCar side never has been considered or seriously discussed.
“I jokingly said to Sam the week Helio’s situation happened that if he had an interest, you better express it now,” Cindric said. “He said, ‘If you guys want me, this is where I want to be. I want to finish the job.’ That’s exactly where we want him to be, to finish the job.”
“We haven’t met anyone’s expectations, including his own, in terms of the points,” Cindric said. “We thought we would run more consistently in the top 20. We can’t put that all on the driver. We didn’t meet our own expectaions, either.”
A spate of qualifying rainouts (which result in setting the field by owners points) also has resulted in Hornish starting 36th in five of the past nine races. He qualified 33rd Friday for Sunday’s Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500.
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