Defending the Indianapolis 500 title will be tough enough for Sam Hornish Jr., but he says he’d like to win twice on the historic 2 1/2-mile oval this year. Hornish, who already has driven in two Busch Series races this season, said Wednesday he likes the idea of trying to drive in both major American races at the track – Indy and the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. “The biggest thing would be our resources,” Hornish said. “But if they asked me to do it, I’d do it.” It’s not unprecedented. A few NASCAR drivers, most notably Tony Stewart and Robby Gordon, have competed in Indianapolis on Memorial Day weekend and later returned to compete in the Brickyard 400. Hornish won the second-closest finish in Indy 500 history by 0.0635 seconds in 2006. Hornish might be setting himself up for even greater expectations. When asked if he had any inkling about running in the July 29 Nextel Cup race in Indianapolis, he didn’t hesitate. “I’m trying to work on Roger (Penske) as far as that goes,” Hornish said. “I think it would require a little bit of testing, and the biggest thing would be our resources. Obviously, we don’t want to take away from what Kurt (Busch) and Ryan (Newman) do there.” #2-Busch and #12-Newman are the two regular drivers for Penske’s NASCAR team. Hornish also is trying to become only the sixth driver in Indy history to repeat as champion, something his teammate Helio Castroneves accomplished in 2001-02.(Associated Press)(3-15-2007)
