Indy 500 Champion Hornish moves to Sprint Cup in 2008, Mobil 1 as sponsor
Quote selected text Published November 8th, 2007 in NASCAR News
Sam Hornish Jr. is leaving the IndyCar Series for a full-time ride in NASCAR, joining the mass exodus of open-wheel stars fleeing to America’s most popular racing series. The three-time IndyCar champion told The Associated Press he will drive the #77 Dodge next season for Penske Racing with Mobil 1 as the sponsor.
“I feel like this is something that is a new and unique challenge for me,” Hornish said Thursday. “It may or may not be the right way to look at it, but I feel like I accomplished just about everything in Indy cars. I got to do more than I ever thought I would.”
Penske will officially introduce Hornish as the third driver for his NASCAR team on Saturday night at the Penske Racing Museum in Phoenix. He’ll join a team that already fields cars for #2-Kurt Busch and #12-Ryan Newman. NASCAR rules currently guarantee a starting spot to the top 35 teams in owner points. It leaves just eight spots in the field each week for everyone else, and this season has been a horrendous struggle for many top-name drivers. Penske could ensure Hornish a spot in the field for the first five races of next season by moving the points currently owned by Busch. The 2004 series champion has a provisional that would lock him into the field should he fail to qualify on speed.
Hornish said he wasn’t sure what Penske will do with the points, and a spokesman for the car owner said he was not available for comment Thursday. Hornish will again try to make his Cup debut this weekend. He’s entered in both the Nextel Cup and Busch Series races at Phoenix International Raceway, where he has two wins and three top-five finishes in Indy cars.
Bookmark to:
- New crew chief named for the No 77, Sam Hornish
- Mobil 1 makes Hornish sponsorship official
- Sam Hornish given vote of confidence at Penske
- Indy 500 winner Sam Hornish Jr. to drive Mobil 1 Dodge in seven NASCAR Busch Series races in ‘07
- Hornish might consider 500/600 double
why??? he cant even make a race, his busch results are well below par, and he cant blame equipment because he is getting kurts cars. there are so many other unknown drivers out there who i would rather see get this seat. guys who deserve a shot at the bigtime, he had his shot, he missed the races, lets move on. this is just ridiculous, who else could miss six races and then still get a full ride next year? he had his shot and he failed, give someone else a chance to qualify that car.
I agree.. Indy champs are too over-rated.
How much money do you think Hornish is bringing to team Penske? Now they have to stack the cards so he can race……………then another real driver has to go home……. The top 35 in owner points rule is one of the reason Nascar is loosing fans…….Nobody wants to watch a feild of strokers race…… I sure wis Bruton Smith would buy Nascar or start a new series ..
3 words - crash and burn(not litterally)
This isn’t good. Stacking the deck. Insulting the NASCAR community. Not good at all. I have to agree that he has a hard time running Busch deals and has been shut out in Cup. Villeneuve got a beat down from Jeff and Jimmie before his first Cup race. Will they go after Sam too? Probably not because Penske pulls more weight than Davis.
I dont see how switching the points is a bad thing. I dont see anybody complaining because Menard got the points from the 14 car, or because Jr will have the number 88 with the points from the 25, or Kvapil will have the number “X” with the points from the 88.
The way I look at it there are two ways to solve this.
First one is, GET RID OF THE TOP 35 RULE. The fastest 43 race, no provisionals, no nothing as “security”
Second one would to mandate that the “owner points” become “number points” and they would go with that number no matter who buys that number.
I think the fastest 40 should start the race 1-40. Then if someone in the top 20 should spinout , blowup , crash , whatever on thier qualifying lap , then have them start in the back , with only 3 spots for something like that just in case. If not , the 41-43rd fastest cars make the field.
Penske’s regular teams are hit or miss on whether they are fast. Imagine coming in on a new team that doesn’t have its footing yet. Montoya, and Franchitti are coming in with established teams.
As far as the points switching deal goes, that is NASCARs deal. Anyo one of you would do the same thing for your team. As far as the rules go, it is allowed and it is up to NASCAR to change it.
It is time for Penske to step up his program and run for the championship.
This is allowed because NASCAR lets it happen. How desperate is Roger?