Sam Hornish Jr. signs with Richard Petty Motorsports

October 8, 2014 Greg Engle Main Page, NASCAR News Top Story, Top Stories 0

Sam Hornish Jr. (Getty Images)
Sam Hornish Jr. (Getty Images)
Sam Hornish Jr. (Getty Images)

Three time IndyCar Series champion Sam Hornish Jr. will return fulltime to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starting in 2015. Hornish and Richard Petty Motorsports announced Wednesday that Hornish will replace Marcos Ambrose in the No. 9 Ford . Ambrose announced at Chicagoland Speedway last month that he would return to his native Australia to race V8 Supercars for Penske Racing.  Hornish raced fulltime in the Sprint Cup series for Penske from 2008-2010.

“Owners Richard Petty, Andrew Murstein and Doug Bergeron have built this organization into a championship-contending team with world-class sponsors and partners,” Hornish said. “Many people have noticed to the progress being made here and I’m ready to build off this momentum. My goal is to put the No. 9 team in victory lane in 2015 and be a competitor in ‘The Chase’.”

Hornish returned and made 20 starts for Penske in 2012 filling in for suspended driver AJ Allmendinger.  He made one Sprint Cup start this season for Joe Gibbs Racing at Auto Club Speedway subbing for the injured Denny Hamlin. Overall, in 131 starts in the Sprint Cup series spread out over eight years Hornish has three top-5 finishes and eight top-10 finishes. In 221 starts, Ambrose compiled a record of 2 wins, 18 top-5 and 44 top-10 finishes.  In 77 starts in the NASCAR Nationwide series Ambrose has two wins, five top-5 and nine top-10 finishes. MORE>>>

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Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.