Hornish says he hasn't been told of plans for Penske's No. 12

By Jared Turner - SceneDaily Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
$util.encode.html($content.photo.alt)

Rusty Jarrett
Getty Images for NASCAR

Sam Hornish Jr. says there have been no discussions of him moving over from Penske Racing’s No. 77 Sprint Cup car to replace Ryan Newman in the team’s No. 12 car next season and that he has been given no indication of who will.

Penske Racing announced last week that Newman would leave the company at the end of the 2008 season for another team.

That team is widely speculated to be the new Stewart-Haas Racing, which will absorb Haas CNC Racing at the end of the season with Tony Stewart coming on board as part owner and one of the team’s two drivers.

“As far as who [team owner] Roger [Penske] is hiring or any of that stuff I don’t have ideas,” Hornish said Tuesday in reference to the vacancy at Penske. “I’m sure with Roger’s resume, we’ll get another spectacular person in there.”

One driver considered to be in the running to replace to Newman is David Stremme, who currently serves as a test driver for Penske Racing and competes in the Nationwide Series for Rusty Wallace Racing.

Stremme, who drove full time in Cup for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2006 and 2007, has helped ease the burden of testing on Penske’s current three-car lineup of Hornish, Newman and Kurt Busch, Hornish said.

“David’s been really great to me, calling me up, asking me if there’s anything that he can do to help me out," said Hornish, noting that data gleaned from the test team has been helpful in areas such as parts and fuel mileage. "[He's] maybe giving me little tidbits of information and what he thought about certain things [with me] going to [tracks] for the first time like Pocono and Indianapolis and even some of those places that you don’t really see anything like it anywhere else. It’s been nice to have somebody to ask some questions.

"Obviously, Kurt and Ryan are tremendously busy because they’re Cup drivers themselves and have all of that going on so David’s probably been a little bit more accessible.”

Hornish, who moved over from the IndyCar Series to run the full Cup schedule this season, says he wasn’t surprised by the news that Newman would leave Penske at the end of 2008.

“It was obviously something that reading in articles you could see that it was kind of heading in that direction and I wish Ryan all the best not only for the rest of this year but throughout the rest of his career and whatever comes up different,” Hornish said. “The way that I looked at it, I’ve got to be a little bit thankful Ryan’s been there as somebody I can bounce different questions [off] or ask him different things about stock-car racing.

"Obviously when it’s someone that’s been in the Penske organization as long as he has, it’s something to see him leave but we have to continue to move forward.”

Mentioned Drivers: Sam Hornish Jr.

Post a Comment

Disclaimer: All comments are subject to filtering for language, and libelous content. Comments are intended to encourage spirited debate and discussion about the subject matter contained within the articles and ARE NOT intended for personal or demeaning attacks directed at other users. We reserve the right to remove any comments deemed inappropriate. Users who violate this policy may be banned from posting comments on the site.

Comment Preview

Nov 8, 2009 at 7:45 AM
You said:

You must login before you can post comments or rate content.

If you don't have an account you can create a free one here.

2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings

Driver Standings after the AMP Energy 500

1 Jimmie Johnson 6248
2 Mark Martin -184
3 Jeff Gordon -192
4 Juan Pablo Montoya -239
5 Tony Stewart -279
6 Kurt Busch -312
7 Greg Biffle -340
8 Ryan Newman -402
9 Kasey Kahne -414
10 Carl Edwards -437
11 Denny Hamlin -448
12 Brian Vickers -556

NASCAR Schedules

abc

Dickies 500

Texas Motor Speedway
03:31 PM, 11/08/2009

Poll PositionView All

Which NASCAR Sprint Cup race winner from the past two seasons is most likely to earn his first victory of 2009 in the next three races?

Promotions

  • Play "WIX Filters' Pick 3" stock car fantasy and win prizes. Season 2 is now in session!

  • Tweet your thoughts about each race and join the conversation with other fans.

  • Drive an authentic NASCAR Sprint Cup car at the NASCAR Racing Experience.

  • Cast your vote for the NASCAR Illustrated 2009 Person of the Year, presented by Old Spice.

  • Make weekly pics for the Chase and be entered to win weekly SPEED Merchandise.

NASCAR Community Join the Community

In the Forums View All

Presented by

Don't have an account yet?

Insiders Guide to NASCAR

Register with SceneDaily.com and get access to the following features:

  • FREE Insider’s Guide to NASCAR (available as a PDF download)
  • Daily NASCAR news updates delivered directly to your e-mail
  • Pre-race and Post-race emails delivered each race week
  • Ability to comment on blog and news articles
  • Information on new website features and upcoming contests
Create my Account

Login

Forgot Password?
Login or Create an Account