Sam Hornish, Jr.

Sam Hornish, Jr. Born (1979-07-02) July 2, 1979 Defiance, Ohio, United States Achievements 2001, 2002, 2006 IndyCar Series Champion, 2006 Indianapolis 500 winner Awards 2004 IndyCar Series Most Popular Driver NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career 130 race(s) run over 6 year(s) Car no., team No. 12 (Penske Racing) 2012 position 59th Best finish 28th – 2009 First race 2007 Checker Auto Parts 500 Presented by Pennzoil (Phoenix) Last race 2013 STP 400 (Kansas) Wins Top tens Poles 0 9 0 NASCAR Nationwide Series career 75 race(s) run over 7 year(s) Car no., team No. 12 (Penske Racing) 2012 position 4th Best finish 4th – 2012 First race 2006 Arizona Travel 200 (Phoenix) Last race 2013 VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 (Darlington) First win 2011 Wypall 200 (Phoenix) Last win 2013 Sam's Town 300 (Las Vegas) Wins Top tens Poles 2 35 1 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career 1 race(s) run over 1 year(s) Best finish 74th – 2008 First race 2008 Kroger 200 (Martinsville) Wins Top tens Poles 0 1 0 IndyCar Series career 116 race(s) run over 8 year(s) Team(s) PDM Racing (2000) Panther Racing (2001-2003) Team Penske (2004-2007) Best finish 1st – 2001, 2002, 2006 First race 2000 Delphi Indy 200 (Disney) Last race 2007 Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 (Joliet) First win 2001 Pennzoil Copper World Indy 200 (Phoenix) Last win 2007 Bombardier Learjet 550 (Texas) Wins Podiums Poles 19 47 10 Statistics current as of May 10, 2013.

Samuel Jon Hornish, Jr. (born July 2, 1979) is an American auto racing driver. He currently drives the No. 12 Ford Mustang for Penske Racing in the Nationwide Series.

Early career

Born in Defiance, Ohio, Hornish began racing at the age of 11 in go-kart. After competing in junior leagues for various seasons, he joined the World Karting Association in 1993, winning seven races and posting twenty-nine top-five finishes. The following season, he won several championships in WKA, including the U.S. and Canadian Grand Championships, as well as the U.S. Junior Class Grand Championship. In 1995, he repeated his U.S. Grand National title and won nine races. He would move up to the United States F2000 Series, driving six races for his family-owned team, and had one top-ten finish at Watkins Glen International. He joined Bordin Racing in 1997 and had two eleventh-place finishes, before signing with Primus Racing. He had a second-place run at Pikes Peak International Raceway and finished seventh in points.

In 1999, Hornish moved to the Toyota Atlantic Series to drive for Shank Racing. He won Rookie of the Year after getting his victory at Chicago Motor Speedway. He also drove the 24 Hours of Daytona for Intersport Racing.

IRL career

Practicing for the 2007 Indianapolis 500

He first raced in the IRL in 2000 with the PDM Racing team, finishing 21st in the point standings with a best finish of third. However, he switched to Panther Racing for the next season and improved enough to take the title from reigning champion Buddy Lazier. In 2002 the Penske team switched from Champ Car, and Sam was able to beat their top driver Hélio Castroneves to his second title. Along the way, Hornish beat Al Unser, Jr. by .0024 of a second in the Delphi Indy 300 in Chicago, possibly the closest race in auto history until the 2007 Indy Pro Season when Logan Gomez beat teammate and champion Alex Lloyd at the same racetrack by only 0.0005 sec, or 1.65 inches (42 mm).

In 2003, most of the established top US open-wheel teams were now racing in the series, with Honda and Toyota providing engines superior to the established Chevrolet unit Panther used. As a result, Cosworth was called in to supply a replacement engine informally dubbed the "Chevworth", with which Sam was a winner again, finishing 5th in the 2003 standings. For 2004 he moved to Penske, winning the season-opener but finding that Honda engines, and not Penske's Toyotas, were now the engine of choice. 2005 was an improvement, as he finished third to Dan Wheldon and Tony Kanaan in the standings and the top placement of any driver not driving for Andretti Green Racing.

On May 28, 2006, after starting on the pole for the 2006 Indianapolis 500, Hornish became the first driver to ever overtake for the lead on the race's final lap, ultimately winning the race in the last 450 feet (140 m) by a 0.0635-second margin over Marco Andretti. Also in that year, he won the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's Scott Brayton Award, awarded annually to the driver best exemplifying a spirit of tenacity as well as friendliness amongst the race's participants. Hornish went on to win the 2006 IRL championship in the final race of the season by a tiebreaker over defending champ Dan Wheldon. He became the first 3-time champion in IRL history. In 2007, he only won one race at Texas, and finished fifth in points.

NASCAR

2006–2008

2007 Busch car

2008 Sprint Cup car

Hornish competing in a 2006 International Race of Champions race at Texas Motor Speedway.

On October 28, 2006, Hornish announced that he would attempt to run the final two 2006 NASCAR Busch Series races for Penske Racing, as well as select events in 2007. In his first two Busch starts, Hornish wrecked his #39 Mobil 1 Dodge both times, and did not finish better than 36th. In 2007, his car was switched to the #12, and he competed in seven Busch races, his best finish being a 15th at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Beginning in fall 2007, he started attempting Nextel Cup races in the #06 for Penske, and made only two races (at Phoenix International Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway).

Hornish moved up to drive the #77 for Penske in Sprint Cup in 2008 with Mobil 1 sponsorship. In his first Daytona 500, Hornish had a 15th place finish. Teammates Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch finished first and second; to giving Roger Penske his first 1,2 finish in the Daytona 500. After the race Roger Penske said, "It is nice to see Sam display some of his racing talent in the biggest race in NASCAR." After struggling to make his first NASCAR Cup Series events; Phoenix where he finished 30th and Homestead where he finished 37th, after the 2008 Daytona 500 he admitted that even he was surprised to see himself running in the top-10 most of the day. He also said, "I wish they would have started the race about two hours sooner, so it still could have been sunny out. If the sun had never gone down, we would have had a better chance. Once the sun goes down, everybody starts getting more and more evenly matched up, because there's not all that worry about the tires sliding around so much because of the heat."

To allow Hornish to start in the first five Sprint Cup races of the season, Penske swapped the owner points of Kurt Busch's #2 car with the #77's, which ensured Hornish of a place in each of the races as Busch's team had finished seventh in the final 2007 Nextel Cup standings (and also protected Busch in case of bad qualifying efforts as he would have been able to use the Champion's Provisional for the first five races in 2008, as the rules state that the most recent Cup champion not qualified gets into the field; Busch's 2004 championship qualified him for use of the provisional).

At the May All-Star race at Lowe's Motor Speedway Hornish finished second in the Sprint Showdown to earn a start in the All-Star race. Hornish finished 7th. Hornish would finish second in a competitive Rookie of the Year race to Regan Smith, which could not have been helped by Hornish's string of poor finishes and failure to qualify for two

2009–2012

As the 2009 season started, the team had high hopes for the season. However, bad luck late in 4 of the first 6 races kept Sam from being able to achieve his elusive first top 10 finish in a Sprint Cup points race. Nevertheless, he showed great improvement from 2008. Finally, on April 18 in Phoenix, he got his top 10, finishing the race in 9th place. Two races later Sam again improved on his career best finish scoring 6th in the Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway. A week later, despite its being a non-points race, Hornish got his first NASCAR victory by winning the annual Sprint Showdown, which qualified him for the Sprint All-Star Race for the second year in a row. He'd go on to finish 16th in the event.

While Hornish's results improved from his rookie campaign, the team still struggled with consistency and finishing races. In addition to his two top ten finishes early in the year, Hornish scored 5 additional top tens (both Pocono races, New Hampshire, Michigan, and again at Richmond) and also gained his first two top five finishes with a fourth place effort in the Pennsylvania 500 and a fifth place finish at Michigan. Those efforts, however, were countered with 13 finishes of 30th or worse (with 7 of those being finishes of 35th or worse). Since his debut, Hornish has finished 30th or worse in 33 of his 62 career starts.

With Mobil 1 departing for Stewart-Haas Racing at the end of 2010, Hornish was left without a Cup Series ride but elected to remain at Penske to drive a limited schedule in the Nationwide Series with the #12 Dodge Challenger in 2011. He competed in 13 races and achieved six top ten finishes. Hornish also recorded his first NASCAR Nationwide series win during the 2011 Wypall 200 at Phoenix International Raceway, the site of his first IndyCar win. He also became the first driver to win on Phoenix International Raceway's new configuration. Hornish also drove the #38 Front Row Motorsports Sprint Cup car at Pocono, as regular driver Travis Kvapil was competing for the Truck Series championship and was unavailable for the race.

Hornish returned to the Nationwide Series for a complete schedule in 2012, driving the #12 Dodge. Hornish returned to the Cup Series at the STP 400 at Kansas Speedway, driving the No. 12 Dodge for Penske Racing; he was also scheduled to compete in the Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500 later in the season. After A.J. Allmendinger was suspended for drug abuse, Hornish took over the #22 Dodge in the Sprint Cup Series beginning at the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

From 2012-present Sam Hornish has performed well in the NNS. At Talladega Sam Hornish barely avoided Eric McClure's horrific massive crash and was in the top ten for the remainder of the race. However he blew a tire and made contact with former IRL rival Danica Patrick. In reply Danica Patrick crashed him after the checkers. Sam Hornish forgave Danica Patrick but nonetheless Patrick was put on a temporary probation for her actions. Later at Montreal Sam Hornish in a final green-white-checkered finish attempt made an amazing run from 14th to 2nd place in two laps.

Meanwhile in the cup series, Sam Hornish Jr. with the #22 Cup ride had several top tens or good runnings after replacing Allmendinger. He had an almost win at Watkins Glen after a genius pit stop by his crew but was passed by the fastest drivers of the day Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Marcos Ambrose with a few laps left. After the race Sam Hornish who finished in 5th place, said the Watkins Glen finish was one of his best performances in the cup series. After the season ended Joey Logano took over the #22 car. Initially Sam Hornish Jr. was very disappointed to lose his cup ride but took it well and went back to the #12 Penske dodge for the NNS for 2013.

In 2013 Sam Hornish dominated the race at Las Vegas leading for 114 laps. After a pit stop, Hornish came back through the field to beat Kyle Busch for the win. It is his second NNS victory and it ended a long NNS winless streak dating back almost two years prior at Phoenix.

Sam Hornish made his first appearance in the Cup series for 2013 driving his NNS #12 for the Spring NSCS race at Kansas. In the final stages Sam Hornish crashed because of winds and collected fellow driver Casey Mears in his accident.

Education and family

Hornish holding his daughter Addison at Road America in 2012

Hornish is a 1998 graduate of Archbold High School in Archbold, Ohio, and now resides in Napoleon.

On February 4, 2008, Sam and his wife Crystal welcomed their first child, Addison Faith Hornish, into the world. Baby Addison weighed 7 lb (3.2 kg). 2oz. and measured 18 inches (460 mm). Hornish finished 15th in his first Daytona 500 just a couple of weeks after. Sam and Crystal welcomed their second child, Eliza Jo, on December 28, 2010. Baby Eliza weighed 7 lb (3.2 kg). 15 oz and measured 20.5 inches (520 mm).

Motorsport career results

American open-wheel racing results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Atlantic Championship

Formula Atlantic results
Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Rank	Points
1999	Shank Racing	LBH 8	NAZ 18	GAT 4	MIL 8	MTL 12	ROA 9	TRR 19	MDO 7	CHI 1	VAN 10	LS 6	HOU 10	7th	67

IRL IndyCar Series

IndyCar Series results
Year	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
2000	PDM Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile	WDW 20	PHX Ret	LSV 3															21st	110
		Dallara					INDY Ret	TXS Ret	PPIR Ret	ATL DNS	KTY 9	TX2 Ret
2001	Panther Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	PHX 1	HMS 1	ATL 4	INDY 14	TXS 3	PPIR 2	RIR 2	KAN 2	NSH 6	KTY 3	STL 3	CHI 2	TX2 1					1st	503
2002	Panther Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	HMS 1	PHX 3	CAL 1	NZR 17	INDY 25	TXS Ret	PPIR 3	RIR 1	KAN 2	NSH 3	MIS 7	KTY 2	STL 5	CHI 1	TX2 1			1st	531
2003	Panther Racing	Dallara	Chevrolet	HMS 10	PHX Ret	JPN 6	INDY Ret	TXS 10	PPIR 5	RIR 4	KAN Ret	NSH 11	MIS 2	STL 6	KTY 1	NZR 2	CHI 1	CAL 1	TX2 Ret		5th	461
2004	Team Penske	Dallara	Toyota	HMS 1	PHX 15	JPN Ret	INDY Ret	TXS 4	RIR 11	KAN 8	NSH 2	MIL 3	MIS 4	KTY 14	PPIR Ret	NZR 11	CHI 6	CAL 4	TX2 Ret		7th	387
2005	Team Penske	Dallara	Toyota	HMS 2	PHX 1	STP Ret	JPN 7	INDY Ret	TXS 2	RIR Ret	KAN 12	NSH 2	MIL 1	MIS 5	KTY 7	PPIR 2	SNM 17	CHI 3	WGL 7	CAL 5	3rd	512
2006	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	HMS 3	STP 8	JPN 4	INDY 1	WGL 12	TXS 4	RIR 1	KAN 1	NSH Ret	MIL 2	MIS Ret	KTY 1	SNM 9	CHI 3				1st-TB	475
2007	Team Penske	Dallara	Honda	HMS 3	STP 7	JPN 5	KAN 6	INDY 4	MIL 9	TXS 1	IOW Ret	RIR 15	WGL 2	NSH 4	MDO 14	MIS Ret	KTY Ret	SNM 5	DET 12	CHI 3	5th	465

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)	Top 10s (Non-podium)	Indianapolis 500 Wins	Championships
8	3	116	12	19	27	32	1 (2006)	3 (2001, 2002, 2006)

Indy 500 results

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish	Team	Note
2000	Dallara	Oldsmobile	14	24	PDM	T2 Accident
2001	Dallara	Oldsmobile	13	14	Panther	Finished
2002	Dallara	Chevrolet	7	25	Panther	Finished
2003	Dallara	Chevrolet	18	15	Panther	Engine Failure
2004	Dallara	Toyota	11	26	Penske	FS Accident
2005	Dallara	Toyota	2	23	Penske	T1 Accident
2006	Dallara	Honda	1	1	Penske	Last lap pass for the win
2007	Dallara	Honda	5	4	Penske	Finished

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings. * – Most laps led.)

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series results

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	NSCC	Points
2007	Penske Racing	06	Dodge	DAY	CAL	LVS	ATL	BRI	MAR	TEX	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	LOW	DOV	POC	MCH	INF	NHA	DAY	CHI	IND	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	NHA DNQ	DOV DNQ	KAN	TAL DNQ	LOW DNQ	MAR DNQ	ATL DNQ	TEX	PHO 30	HOM 37	62nd	125
2008		77		DAY 15	CAL 43	LVS 41	ATL 25	BRI 29	MAR 28	TEX 32	PHO 20	TAL 35	RCH 23	DAR 38	LOW 13	DOV 18	POC 42	MCH 22	INF 31	NHA 39	DAY 29	CHI 37	IND 21	POC 26	GLN 32	MCH 22	BRI 37	CAL 31	RCH 38	NHA 30	DOV 42	KAN 33	TAL DNQ	LOW 22	MAR 34	ATL 24	TEX 23	PHO 33	HOM DNQ	35th	2523
2009				DAY 32	CAL 23	LVS 16	ATL 37	BRI 31	MAR 34	TEX 17	PHO 9	TAL 34	RCH 6	DAR 30	LOW 16	DOV 13	POC 10	MCH 29	INF 38	NHA 8	DAY 32	CHI 38	IND 37	POC 4	GLN 35	MCH 5	BRI 35	ATL 35	RCH 8	NHA 37	DOV 26	KAN 18	CAL 12	LOW 40	MAR 36	TAL 40	TEX 40	PHO 17	HOM 21	28th	3203
2010				DAY 37	CAL 16	LVS 28	ATL 28	BRI 32	MAR 13	PHO 18	TEX 19	TAL 24	RCH 36	DAR 31	DOV 34	CLT 17	POC 11	MCH 26	INF 36	NHA 23	DAY 21	CHI 24	IND 30	POC 11	GLN 14	MCH 32	BRI 25	ATL 30	RCH 28	NHA 10	DOV 36	KAN 36	CAL 15	CLT 40	MAR 25	TAL 15	TEX 18	PHO 32	HOM 24	29th	3214
2011	Front Row Motorsports	38	Ford	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	MAR	TEX	TAL	RCH	DAR	DOV	CLT	KAN	POC 35	MCH	INF	DAY	KEN	NHA	IND	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	NHA	DOV	KAN	CLT	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM	70th	01
2012	Penske Racing	12	Dodge	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	MAR	TEX	KAN 19	RCH	TAL	DAR	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	KEN																				59th	01
		22																			DAY 33	NHA 22	IND 16	POC 19	GLN 5	MCH 12	BRI 34	ATL 11	RCH 11	CHI 11	NHA 21	DOV 25	TAL 24	CLT 15	KAN 26	MAR 13	TEX 17	PHO 31	HOM 22
2013		12	Ford	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	MAR	TEX	KAN 37	RCH	TAL	DAR	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	KEN	DAY	NHA	IND	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	NHA	DOV	KAN	CLT	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM	51st*	0*1

* Season in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

Year	Starts*	Wins	Top Fives	Top Tens	Poles	DNQ	Finish	Start	Winnings	Rank	Team(s)
2007	2	0	0	0	0	6	33.5	27.5	$126,325	62	Penske Racing
2008	34	0	0	0	0	2	29.6	27.9	$4,547,374	35	Penske Racing
2009	36	0	2	7	0	0	25.0	23.4	$4,136,163	28	Penske Racing
2010	36	0	0	1	0	0	24.9	20.8	$3,447,549	29	Penske Racing
2011	1	0	0	0	0	0	35.0	26.0	$64,875	70	Front Row Motorsports
2012	6	0	1	1	0	0	18.0	19.0	$785,820	64	Penske Racing
Totals	115	0	3	9	0	8	23.7	26.3	$13,108,106

(Data as of January 17, 2012)

External links

• Official website
• Sam Hornish, Jr. driver statistics at Racing Reference

Sporting positions
Preceded by Buddy Lazier	Indy Racing Northern Lights Series Champion 2001, 2002	Succeeded by Scott Dixon
Preceded by Dan Wheldon	IRL IndyCar Series Champion 2006	Succeeded by Dario Franchitti
Achievements
Preceded by Dan Wheldon	Indianapolis 500 Winner 2006	Succeeded by Dario Franchitti
Awards
Preceded by Kenny Bräck	Scott Brayton Trophy 2006	Succeeded by Tony Kanaan