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.

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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.

"So for me, the way I look at it, I know you have to kind of be over here to do that. To have an opportunity, you need to be in these cars a lot. You need to have the practice and all the test time with the guys, to have them trust you when they're around you -- and not want to punt you out of the way when you're around 'em, too."

To be fair, Hornish said that Friday marked only the third day he had ever been in a COT. And although he has run in eight Busch events this season, he's had virtually no practice time in those cars, either. Friday also marked the first time he had ever been to the New Hampshire track -- all of which led McCauley to preach caution about Hornish committing to a full-time Cup schedule next year even before Hornish went out for his ill-fated Friday qualifying attempt.

"We'll see. Let's get through the fall. We're going to run in five to seven races this fall and see how things go, see how Sam does. And see how the team does," McCauley said. "I don't want to say we're going to go out and conquer the world. Right now we've just got to conquer getting qualified. ... One thing at a time. I don't like getting ahead of myself."

Try as he might, Hornish could not get ahead of the rest of the field -- or even close to the middle of it -- on his Friday qualifying run.

"As far as qualifying goes, I wouldn't say I'm always the best qualifier but I'm usually in the top half," Hornish said.

Then he paused, straining again to try and recall if there ever was a time when he didn't make a race that he set his sights on.

"I'd say it was probably since I was running go-karts a long, long time ago," Hornish said. "The last time I can remember was '93. There were about 150 karts in an event, and I was last-place car that didn't qualifying into the final that took 22 cars.

"I was 23rd then, so it was a lot better than what I did [Friday]. I didn't have to worry about those things in Indy car. Even going to Indy the first time, I knew where I needed to be, I knew more about the car, had more time in the car, had been at the track. It wasn't like an hour-and-half [practice] session and then try to do it. But that's part of the deal. I think hearing everyone saying you can't overdrive the car, you can't overdrive the car, actually ended up hurting me.

"I didn't overdrive it. I didn't drive it hard enough."