Hornish Jr. considers switch to NASCAR

When you're Sam Hornish Jr., a three-time IndyCar series champion and winner of the Indy 500, the 27-year-old has to ask himself: 'What's next?'

For months now, the Ohio native has been contemplating a major move; leave the Indy Racing League to compete full time in NASCAR, a premier, highly hectic and competitive arena. He would go from being the big fish in a little pond, to the little fish in the country's biggest auto racing pond -- Nextel Cup Series.

Saturday, Hornish will attempt to qualify for his sixth Busch Series event at a track he is more than familiar with; Michigan International Speedway.

The Penske driver has been to MIS four times this summer; an ARCA RE/MAX test, an ARCA race where he finished second from the pole and most recently the IRL race where he finished ninth in August.

On this trip, Hornish will attempt to qualify for the CARFAX 250 and if he does he will be the only driver in MIS history to compete in the Busch, IndyCar and ARCA series in the same year.

That's all well and good for Hornish, but he's more interested in being the first driver to win the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400 and Indy 500.

Now if we could just get him to make up his mind on when he's coming.

Q: OK Sam, when are you coming to NASCAR full-time already?

Hornish: I'm still right down the middle. I'm just very fortunate that I have the option of either direction that I want to go next year; it's a very comforting thing when you make this kind of decision. We are going to continue to run Busch races and [Michigan] is only my sixth stock car race so I'm still learning. The fact that Roger [Penske] is allowing me to wait and make this decision as we go down the road is good.

Q: Has Roger given you a timeline or have you given yourself one?

Hornish: Not necessarily, I'm sure we'll know more by the end of the stock car season. After the Indy Car season is over, we are going to have around four to six more Busch races starting in September.

Q: What is your main motivation for coming to NASCAR; money, bosses orders, popularity, competition?

Hornish: If I were to do it, it's more because of the challenge, the challenge of learning something new and being competitive over here and winning races. I know the popularity of NASCAR is tremendous, but as far as I'm concerned, I don't need my face out there everywhere like that. The big thing for me is a new challenge.

Q: So if you do come to the Nextel Cup Series, will your team owner Roger Penske add a third car in addition to Cup drivers Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch?

Hornish: I don't know what's all in Roger's mind. If I knew that, I'd probably do a little bit better (laugh), but I'm pretty blessed to be able to keep my options open, focus on seat time and practice. He'll take care of the rest.

Q: Now let me get this straight, you're competing for your fourth Indy Racing League championship and trying to qualify, on time, for races in the second most competitive circuit in the country, the Busch Series. Has series hopping got you spun out this season?

Hornish: Not really. While you're doing it, you always seem busy all the time, but then I get a day or two at home and I start to feel lazy. I feel like I'm not doing enough.

Q: In the IRL you sit fifth in the points, but relative to NASCAR, that's perceivably 15th ...

Hornish: Everything that could go wrong this [IRL] season has. Last season, everything went right, we had such a great season; you're not always going to have those. This season we've had people running into us, rain at the [Indy] 500, fuel problems and I've overcompensated for some of the problems we've had and made mistakes that compounded our problems. I keep learning and try to make myself better. (Continued)