Sam Hornish Jr. in NASCAR , IRL Fans' thread

[ChicagocrewIRL]

Louden NH, Sept 16, 2007

GRID - - - NIL failed to qualify.
Hornish Qualifying speed 126.631
Bowyer Pole speed 130.412

Welcome to being a back marker Sam. Oh wait, you can't be a back marker if you're not even in the race. <SNAP>

[OWFan19]

And yet he was fast in practice! I bet Dario is watching.

[OWChicago79]

Sam Hornish aka M. Walltrip jr. He needs to stay in IRL he's making himself look like a fool

[Jonesi]

He's entered again for this weekend's race at Dover. He and Marcos Ambrose have no owner points. That means their haulers enter last, unload last, go through tech last. Which means they may miss part or most of the first practice session. Getting into Nextel Cup this year is the hardest it's ever been for any proracing series in history. (In many ways more dificult than prequalifing days of the late 80s in F1.)

[ZzZzZz]

I liked what Penske said about this and their approach. Sam did practice well. Hopefully, he'll make a few so he can make a proper assessment. Anyway, he's staying with Penske, and the decision of which series will be made at the end of the year.

This silly season is going to be pretty interesting, with some prime seats open in various series.

[Komahawk]

Being a backmarker and qualifying only every once in awhile didn't keep Allmendinger from switching to NASCAR. I just hope he gets fed up with it soon and stays in the IRL.

[e2mtt]

Hey I don't have a problem with trying to qualify every single week they aren't racing in their own series. If they eventually start making races, they will go full time NASCAR and make good money. Otherwise, they will just go back to their own series. No harm, no foul. This makes great sense. There are 9 races left in NASCAR, the IRL is done. Now is the time to find out if they can hack it.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Hornish is being hurt by going through everything last, as it was stated above. With track time and practice and testing, Sam will get up to speed. He has run the odd ARCA event before and has done alright. Racing stock cars isn't a jump in and run fast right away proposition for an ow driver unless he is a prodigy like Tony Stewart/Jeff Gordon, or with a really good team. Penske's stock car operation is an ok team, not a GREAT team, so he and the team have to find their level and get up to speed gradually. That means missing some shows.

I wish the guy luck, the IRL and he were great for each other, but all power to him to try a new challenge. He is a good man and for people to dump on him because he isn't having success is just sour grapes. The same ones that the AJ Allmendinger fans in Champ Car have been chewing on all year, but AJ made a move to give himself financial security and a longer career. Cant blame a guy for that.....