Carpentier signs with GEM (cont'd)

Michael Waltrip Racing is reported to be an option for Stremme next season.

Carpentier becomes the latest open-wheel driver to jump to NASCAR, and will join a Dodge camp that already has Juan Montoya and Franchitti in Avengers for next season. Villeneuve, a former Formula One world champion, will drive a Toyota next season, and Scott Speed will race a Toyota in the ARCA Series.

Carpentier has driven in only one Nextel Cup race and two Busch Series events, all on road courses. The No. 10 is currently outside the top 35 in owner points, and Riggs has failed to qualify for seven events, including Sunday's race at Talladega.

It creates a tricky situation for Carpentier because if the car isn't locked into the field and misses races, Carpentier won't get the experience he'd need to race it inside the top 35 in points.

Team co-owner Alex Gillett acknowledged the difficulties Carpentier could face.

"Like all of these new guys, there is going to be a learning curve in regards to ... if you bring them into this sport, how do you bring them in properly?" he said. "I'm not sure you take somebody like Patrick Carpentier and throw them right into Nextel Cup."

Carpentier remains attractive because the team can court Canadian companies to sponsor the car.

GEM's announcement said the team will conduct a formal news conference next week to introduce Carpentier and discuss further details.

Hornish back for another try

Another open-wheel star trying to make the swtich to NASCAR will try again this week at Lowe's Motor Speedway when 2006 Indianapolis 500 winner Sam Hornish Jr. hopes to make the field for Saturday night's Bank of America 500.

Hornish, a three-time IndyCar Series champion, has come up short three times in the past four weeks. Hornish's three previous qualifying attempts, which all came close to putting him in the lineup, were in NASCAR's new Car of Tomorrow, which will run the entire Cup series in 2008. But this week the competitors are back in the current car.

"This will be the first race I'm attempting to qualify in a car that will be obsolete after this season," Hornish said. "I have more experience driving this style of car and on similar tracks running in the Busch Series. So I'm a little more comfortable approaching this weekend than I was at New Hampshire and Dover.

"It's not my first time at Lowe's, though. I ran there in a Formula Ford in the late '90s."

Hornish, who drives for Roger Penske in both IndyCar and NASCAR, is considering a move to stock cars full time in 2008. For that reason, he will enter no more than seven races this year, keeping his eligibility to race for rookie of the year next season in Cup.

That means the only other events for which he will attempt to qualify are the two remaining COT events at Martinsville and Phoenix.

Stenhouse signs with Roush Fenway

Sprint car star Ricky Stenhouse Jr. signed with Roush Fenway Racing on Wednesday and will move to stock cars next season.

Stenhouse, who turns 20 later this month, will run the full ARCA schedule next season in a car fielded by Roush Fenway.

"I've been waiting for this for a while," Stenhouse said. "Since I was 6 years old and starting to race, this is what I've wanted to do. To be racing for Jack Roush, John Henry and a team like Roush Fenway Racing, it's a dream come true."

Stenhouse, from Olive Branch, Miss., raced for Tony Stewart Racing this season in USAC's National Sprint Car and National Midget Car Series'.

He won two races and had 14 top-10 finishes in 22 Sprint car starts, and ranks fifth in the standings. In the Midget Series, Stenhouse has five wins in 23 starts with 15 top-10 finishes. He's third in those standings.

He plans to fulfill his USAC obligations, but start testing with Roush Fenway in the coming weeks.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.