Hornish unsure of points, team swap

By Kenny Bruce - Assistant Managing Editor

Friday, August 29, 2008

John Harrelson
Getty Images for NASCAR

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FONTANA, Calif. – Sam Hornish Jr. says he hasn’t had any conversations with Penske Racing officials regarding a possible move from the team’s No. 77 Dodge to the No. 12 for 2009, or a possible points swap between the two.

“All I know about it is that no decision has been made,” Hornish said Friday while at Auto Club Speedway. “I just know they need a driver for the 12 car.”

Teammate Ryan Newman’s impending departure – he’ll leave at season’s end to join Stewart-Haas Racing for 2009 – means the Penske organization has one driver opening to fill. Putting Hornish in the 12 would likely placate primary sponsor Alltel and would guarantee the driver a spot in the field through a minimum of next season’s first five races (when final owner points
from 2008 are used).

Hornish, in his first full season of competition in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, is 35th in owner points heading into Sunday’s race at the Fontana track, just inside the cutoff for a guaranteed starting spot. Newman’s team is currently 16th in owner points.

David Stremme, who has handled much of the Penske group’s testing efforts this year, is expected to be named as Newman’s replacement, joining Hornish and 2004 champion Kurt Busch.

“I really don’t ask the question [about the No. 12] too much,” Hornish said, “because I’ve had so much going on around my own [deal]. There hasn’t really been any discussion around the shop, even from just talking to the guys on the team, I’m not really hearing a lot.

“We’ve had a ton going on trying to get our program straightened out, so we’re not worried a whole lot about that right now.”

Crew chief Travis Geisler replaced Chris Carrier Aug. 19 in an effort to improve the No. 77 team’s on-track performance.

“I really enjoyed working with Chris and all the things that we had been able to go through and do this year and getting to know him,” Hornish said, “but the team felt it was time for a change.”

The timing, however, he said, could have been better.

“It was a tough week to do it because you have a short week because you go from running on Sunday [at Michigan] to running on Saturday night [at Bristol], plus a couple months ago I had asked if I could run the Nationwide race there at Bristol,” he said. “So we didn’t have time for all the debriefing and all the things that we’re going to have this weekend. ... We didn’t even have time to go do a test together. ...

“Now we go to a place [Auto Club Speedway] that we feel like we’re competitive at and can run in the top-15 if we do the things right and probably be better than that. Hopefully, we’ll be able to put all those things together. This is the weekend we’re really going to find out how it works.”