Roger Penske said Saturday that he was working on a plan that would allow his IRL driver Sam Hornish Jr. to race in some NASCAR Busch Series and ARCA Series races next season. That would be in addition to a full IRL schedule for Hornish, who won the Indianapolis 500 this year. Sam has talked about running some Busch or ARCA races, and were looking at a potential program, Penske said before the Sharpie 500. We havent put all the pieces together. Although Penske used an ARCA, Busch and Nextel Cup program to develop the driver Ryan Newman before promoting him to the Cup series full-time, Penske said it was too early to say if Hornish would move up to compete in the Cup series by 2008.(New York Times)(8-28-2006)
UPDATE: Reports that Indianapolis 500 champion Sam Hornish Jr. would be running races in the NASCAR Busch and ARCA Series next year in addition to his Indy Racing League schedule are premature. “There’s no confirmation,” Team Penske director of marketing and communications Chris Schwartz said. “They’re considering a plan that would allow Sam to run some Busch and ARCA events next year. The details of that plan are tentative. Some people are thinking that this is something more than it really is.”(Fort Worth Star Telegram)(8-31-2006)
UPDATE 2: Sam Hornish Jr. could begin testing a Penske Racing South Dodge sometime this fall in preparation for what could be a limited Busch Series and ARCA schedule in 2007, team president Don Miller said Saturday. “They’re just looking at that possibility [for next season],” Miller said. “He’ll probably do some testing a little bit later on.” Whether Hornish begins testing this year or not until next season will depend, in part, on how Penske Racing South’s preparations are going for next season. The team has struggled with its intermediate-track program this year and is also busy working to gear up for the introduction of the “car of tomorrow” next season. Hornish, who will run the full IRL schedule next year, would ease into stock cars. If Hornish were to make the move to NASCAR full time in 2008 or beyond, it would likely mean Penske Racing South would resurrect the #77 team it shut down after last season.(SceneDaily.com)(9-3-2006)
