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Hornish to jump into Busch on part-time basis
'06 Indy 500 champ to run final two races for Penske in No. 39
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM
October 28, 2006
01:49 PM EDT (17:49 GMT)
HAMPTON, Ga. -- Unlike Juan
Pablo Montoya and
A.J. Allmendinger, open-wheel star
Sam Hornish Jr. isn't making a full-time jump into NASCAR, but
Penske Racing has laid the groundwork for a possible move in the future.
Hornish, the 2006
Indianapolis 500 winner, said on Saturday at
Atlanta Motor Speedway that he will attempt to run the final two Busch Series races this season in Penske Racing's No. 39 Dodge.
Hornish, 27, will also run selected Busch races in 2007 in the same car, which he will share with
Kurt Busch and
Ryan Newman. Hornish said that he will run the full Indy Car schedule again for Penske and will only run Busch races that do not conflict with his open-wheel commitments.
"I grew up wanting to be an Indy car driver, but I have watched hundreds of NASCAR races," Hornish said. "I always thought that would be something I'd like to try. I feel like this is the right time in my career where I feel I have a great opportunity."
Penske Racing's Nextel Cup program has struggled in 2006, but its Busch program has performed well, scoring two wins and nine top-10s in 12 starts. Busch scored both of the team's wins this season.
Hornish has already been testing stock cars, having run at both
Kentucky Speedway and
Iowa Speedway. Iowa Speedway, a relatively flat short track, is already being used as a testing facility for Busch and Nextel Cup cars, and Kentucky has long been used to shake down high-banked, high-speed setups.
"I still have a lot of questions in my mind as to how it is going to go," Hornish said.
Hornish is the third major star of open-wheel racing this year to announce a complete or partial move to NASCAR. In July,
Ganassi Racing stunned the industry by hiring Formula One star Montoya to run its No. 42 Dodges in the Nextel Cup Series.
This month,
Red Bull Racing finalized a deal that placed five-time Champ Car winner A.J. Allmendinger in its No. 84 Toyotas in the Nextel Cup Series in 2006.
