On rare occasion, Hornish not fast enough in racecar

LOUDON, N.H. -- Sam Hornish Jr. couldn't remember the last time he didn't make a race.

"I don't know if I can ever remember missing a race," Hornish said after doing just that Friday when he failed to run fast enough to qualify for the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. Hornish, a star in open-wheel racing with an Indy 500 championship on his resume, had expected it to be his first Nextel Cup race.

Now he will have to wait to make his Cup debut. He said he intends to try again in the No. 06 Dodge of Penske Racing South next weekend at Dover.

Good or bad?

Is the trend of hiring open-wheelers to fill Cup rides good or bad? Duane Cross and Mark Aumann debate the issue.

• Complete story, click here
• Message board: Sound off

Meanwhile, his failure to make this weekend's event in New Hampshire illustrated that it isn't an easy transition for open-wheel drivers to make when they attempt to jump to stock-car racing's top level.

"I'm not a rookie as far as racecar drivers go, but as far as running this series, yes, definitely," Hornish said. "You look at it, though, and there are good cars that go home every weekend from this [series]. That's how it goes. There's nothing I can say about that other than you come, you try, you learn."

Hornish was confident heading into qualifying Friday after the final practice session -- when he posted a best lap time of 127.928 mph that was 20th-fastest. It didn't translate into a spot in the race when the best he could manage during his two qualifying laps was 126.631 mph, which ended up being 45th among the 49 cars that attempted to qualify (John Andretti was faster, but ended up being sent home when his car failed post-qualifying inspection).

"I think it was a combination of a couple different things," Hornish said. "I think the biggest thing was everybody was telling me, 'Don't overdrive it, don't overdrive it, don't overdrive it.' Well, I didn't drive it hard enough."

Roy McCauley, serving as Hornish's crew chief after beginning the season as the crew chief for the No. 2 Dodge of Kurt Busch and then taking time off to be with his ill wife, said that Hornish is still learning.

"I told everybody not to be overconfident going into this thing," he said. "We'll just have to try again next week."

The grand plan for Hornish is -- or at least was -- to have him race in the five remaining Car of Tomorrow races this season, and then one or two others for a total of five to seven Cup events, McCauley added.

Both Hornish and McCauley refused to confirm that this is merely a prelude to team owner Roger Penske putting Hornish in Cup cars full time beginning next season. And certainly if Hornish continues to struggle to make races when he attempts to do so the rest of this season, that could impact what happens next in his fledgling stock-car career.

"If you don't make any of the races, that would make it pretty hard for me to come back," Hornish said. "But I've said all along that I want to run the Daytona 500 and I want to run the Brickyard 400. Those are two things that I've had on my priorities list for a long time, that I've wanted to do. And after you go do it the first time, you want to come back and you want to win it after that -- after you've had that initial feeling of just being able to go out and do it. (Continued)