Hornish still unsure about future with Penske

INDIANAPOLIS -- Sam Hornish Jr. doesn't know where he'll be racing next season.

Speaking in front of one of team owner Roger Penske's many Indianapolis 500 cars in the museum at the Brickyard on Friday, Hornish said his future in NASCAR is uncertain. Because sponsor ExxonMobil is leaving his car at the end of this season, there's nothing in place for Hornish to drive next year.

"No updates as far as I'm concerned yet," he said. "I'd definitely like to be back in the Sprint Cup series and I'm going to work to be able to try to do that. Definitely, things are still tough with the economy and trying to find full-time sponsors and things like that. We're going to do everything we can do to make that happen and be back in Sprint Cup.

"If that doesn't work, we're going to look around and see what else [is available]. But I think we've got some great opportunities to make that happen."

Hornish has struggled since moving to NASCAR late in the 2006 season. One of the most storied American open-wheel drivers, he's got just seven top-10 finishes in 91 career Cup races and is 29th in the standings. He finished a career-best 28th in points last year.

Because Hornish had such a successful open-wheel career -- he won the 2006 Indianapolis 500 for Penske and won three titles in what's now the IndyCar Series -- there's always speculation that he could return to that form of racing.

He didn't seem inclined to go back, though.

"I'd like to be here in a stock car, for sure," he said.

Hamlin wins second-quarter honor

Denny Hamlin has been honored as the second-quarter winner in Driver of the Year voting.

Hamlin had knee surgery one month before the quarter began, but still won three Sprint Cup Series races and one Nationwide Series race in the period that ended June 20.

Hamlin earned 12 first-place votes and 122 total points in voting to beat Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch. Busch had two first-place votes and 56 total points.

Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti received one first-place vote, as did Mike Edwards of NHRA's ProStock driver.

Driver of the Year is voted on by 20 media members from across the country. There are four quarterly winners, as well as the overall Driver of the Year award.

Ganassi looking for third prestigious trophy

Back in May, team owner Chip Ganassi had two of racing's most prestigious trophies side by side -- the Harley J. Earl Trophy for Jamie McMurray's Daytona 500 win in February and the Borg-Warner Trophy for Dario Franchitti's victory in the Indianapolis 500.

Ganassi would like to add a third piece of hardware to the collection. Though the trophy that goes to Sunday's Brickyard 400 winner doesn't have the history of the other two -- or even a specific name -- the Brickyard 400 is arguably NASCAR's second most prestigious race behind only Daytona.

The chances of Ganassi completing the unprecedented triple aren't that remote. McMurray and teammate Juan Montoya both have the speed to win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as they showed Friday by topping the speed charts in the second practice session for Sunday's race.

Montoya ran 179.756 mph in qualifying trim. McMurray was a fraction behind at 179.526 mph.

"I'm blessed that I've got people that like some of these tracks, I can tell you," Ganassi said. "All these drivers like particular kinds of tracks -- there are so few that are good at all of them -- and fortunately, at these ones that have the big races, our drivers seem to step up to the plate, and they seem to like those places."

No driver has ever won both the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400. Montoya, who triumphed in the 2000 Indy 500, came close last year when he ran away from the rest of the field in the NASCAR race. A pit-road speeding penalty, however, quashed an exceptional run.

"With last year's performance that Juan had -- and Jamie likes the place -- we're looking forward to it this weekend," Ganassi said.

Related:
• SPEED Trackside Live: Chip Ganassi

Sporting News Wire Service contributed to this report.