AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Leaning against the side of his No. 77 Dodge hauler, perspiration still dotting his face, Sam Hornish Jr. wore a contented smile that seemed a combination of vindication and relief Saturday night at Phoenix International Raceway.

It was only one race, to be sure. But for Hornish, he believes it is merely the beginning of, well, a new beginning.

Hornish had just finished ninth in the Subway Fresh Fit 500 for his first top-10 in the Sprint Cup Series that he began running in earnest more than a year ago. For a guy used to success behind the wheel -- he's the only three-time IndyCar Series champion to ever run full time in NASCAR's top series -- it was a long time coming.

He envisions more Phoenix-type finishes in his immediate future, and said once again that he has no regrets about making the jump from open-wheel racing, where he was top dog, to stock cars, where he has struggled to maintain pace even in the middle of the pack.

"I had a good idea of what it was going to be like," Hornish said. "Did I think it would take me a year and eight races to get a top-10? Probably not. But I didn't think we would be winning at this time, either, unless it was a fuel-mileage race or by being in the right place at the right time when everyone else pitted and we were still the car that was out."

He started 35th at Phoenix and gradually moved up through the field throughout the night. He was 30th by Lap 105, but started to run faster as the sun went down, cooling the tricky 1-mile track. By Lap 200 of the 312-lap event, he was inside the top 20 and still coming hard.

Forty laps later, he was 10th. From there, he held on for the finish that made him smile as if he -- and not Mark Martin -- had won the race.

"Phoenix is a track of a lot of firsts for me. My first IndyCar win was here. My first Nationwide race was here. The first Cup race I ever qualified for was here," Hornish said. "I can't think of a better place to have my first top-10. I keep telling these guys we just need a little bit at a time."

Hornish came into Phoenix ranked 31st in points and left town in the same position. But he started 12th and finished a respectable 17th in the previous race at Texas, leading him to believe the No. 77 team is building positive momentum that could carry it through the rest of the year.

"I've said all year that I didn't think we were getting the finishes we deserved with the way the car was running," Hornish said. "We've taken ourselves out of it whether it was an overheating issue, changing a tire and having the jack man falling down, me making a couple of mistakes. I just feel like we've had good cars but not good finishes.

"I'm just really proud of these guys. We started the 77 team at the beginning of last year. It was a bunch of guys who had never worked together, with a rookie driver who only had about 15 stock-car races in total in his career. Everybody stuck with it. Well, we had to replace some people and move some people around -- but this is what I've seen coming for a long time. We just needed a little luck on our side, too."

Asked if he still would have made the jump to Cup if he knew it would be this difficult, Hornish stood his ground on the decision that surprised many two years ago.

“

I can say I knew it was going to be this hard, but there are days still when I can't believe how hard it is.

”

SAM HORNISH JR.

"I wanted to do it because of moments like this, where you go out there and get a top-10 finish. I wanted to do it for moments like last year at Michigan, where we led some laps and passed Jimmie Johnson; even though it was only for (two laps), we were able to do it," Hornish said.

"I knew how hard it was going to be. I wanted to challenge myself. I told myself this could be the biggest mistake I ever make -- because I could go and be very comfortable in Indy cars for the rest of my career. But I had a taste of this, and wanted more."

He said he was fully aware coming in that it would take some time. How much time, he wasn't sure -- and he admitted that there are still days when he is uncertain.

"I know you have to get some top-15s, then some top-10s and some top-5s before you can finally go win a race. But that's my ultimate goal. How do I get there? I've just got to keep working hard at it," Hornish said.

"I knew it was going to be difficult, but that's why I wanted to do it. I knew if I didn't, I would wake up one morning at some point in time after I was retired and say, 'Why didn't I go and do that? It's too late now.' I would have had a bunch of doubts as to whether or not I could have done it."

He said he is extremely thankful for the patience team owner Roger Penske has granted him. But then, the two go way back -- with Hornish driving for him in the IndyCar Series.

"Roger said, 'Give me two years.' If I'm giving him two years, I'm hoping he's giving me two years as well," Hornish said. "I'm really thankful for Roger. If this had been my first venture with him, I don't think I would have been granted as much leniency -- but we've got a little bit of history together with winning the Indianapolis 500 together and winning a [IndyCar] championship.

"Regardless of anything that would ever happen, I'm grateful to know Roger. I don't want to sound like I'm playing it up too much, but he's one of the best guys out there and I can't say enough about him."

Hornish's critics tend to forget that his stock-car experience has been blunted by NASCAR's stricter testing rules, or that he had only five days of testing in stock cars behind him before making the first two Cup starts of his career at the end of the 2007 season. Then, in 2008, he suddenly jumped into the No. 77 full time with a brand-new Penske team.

"I knew it would be tough, especially with starting the 77 car from scratch. I've told people that I thought it would have been a lot easier for me if I could have just jumped into the 2 [which is driven by Kurt Busch] or the 12 [which was being driven by Ryan Newman when Hornish made the jump to NASCAR] -- just because of all the experience the guys on those teams had. You would just be changing the driver and not trying to build the whole team," Hornish said.

"I can say I knew it was going to be this hard, but there are days still when I can't believe how hard it is. But I'm sure Jeff Gordon has days where he would tell you the same thing."

Saturday in Phoenix was not one of those days.

"I would have never been as happy as I am now with a ninth-place IndyCar finish, even if it was only after three races," Hornish said. "But as happy as I am for myself, I'm just as happy for the four or five guys on the team who have been with us since my first stock-car race. Those are the guys who have stuck with me and kept cheering me up, telling me we were eventually going to get 'em."