Rumors continue to circulate that Sam Hornish Jr. will join Team Penske for 2004. But the team’s president, Tim Cindric, said his drivers, de Ferran and Helio Castroneves, are signed for next season and intend to return. “There are no plans to run three cars,” Cindric said. “If we had wanted to run three, we probably would have done it at Indy this year.” It should be noted that Team Penske essentially ran a third car in the 500, releasing one to Sam Schmidt Motorsports for Richie Hearn. Toyota Racing Development president Jim Aust said any IRL team wanting to make its program better, including Team Penske, will make a move to hire Hornish, the two-time league champion. “Undoubtedly there will be a lot of interest in Sam,” Aust said. Hornish said he hasn’t ruled out re-signing with Panther Racing. But part of that will depend on how the new Chevrolet-Cosworth engine deal, expected to be signed and announced within the next 10 days, works out. Chevy’s current engines were the slowest six cars in qualifying Saturday at Kansas.( Indianapolis Star )(7-6-2003)
