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PushRodV8
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Has anybody else thought that Hornish might end up at RPM? That has been on my mind the past week. That's the only place in Nationwide that's somewhat competitive and has an open seat. What do you guys think?
SlicedBread22
3x!
I duno.. I hear the Penske #12 is "somewhat competitive" too LOL
DaBiff1618
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Maybe they'd replace almirola with him? At this point though its probably bk racing or mwr part time
Michael Annett vacated his RPM Nationwide series team, thats the thought.
I doubt Sam would be able to make it into cup at this point in the season.
DaBiff1618
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Hornish said he's fielding cup offers, and that's the only thing he's considering. Unless its a top tier nns ride like the 20. Rpm wants to put corey lajoie in the 43
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PushRodV8
Guest
oh ok. Didn't know that. How do you think Corey will do in the 43?
Didn't realize he wasnt looking too much at Nationwide... Can't imagine he will find anything in Cup this late...
DaBiff1618
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I think he has a ton of talent, I think he's a lock for top 10 in points. Idk about a win, it is the Rowdy Keselowski series
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Restrictor Plate King!
Guest
I dunno bout Hornish, he's pretty mulligan'd out. I can't see a big team giving him much of a shot seeing as how he's already had a turn on the Penske Cup team. I mean yeah, his time in Nationwide has made him a better stock car racer, but was it enough for a top team to give him another shot? I dunno, I know if i'm car owner Joe Blow that's what i'm thinking about. Maybe if Sam had won 8 or 9 races & streaked to the title instead of only winning 1 race & limping home with his tail cut off we wouldn't be having this conversation. Maybe he oughta swallow his pride & accept a fulltime Craftsman Truck ride, hey how about RCR & Brendan's father fire the heir to the Las Vegas South Point & Orleans Casino empire & put Sam in that truck instead, I bet he could win 4 or 5 races & easily win the title in that truck, it's a goodlooking truck too, I love that black & gold old skool Rusty MGD paintjob...
Marcingak
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He would have won 8 or 9 races had there been no Cup drivers in Nationwide.
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Restrictor Plate King!
Guest
No excuse, he used to be one of those Cup drivers. Best way for a Busch Series Regular to prove to potential Cup Series car owners that your potentially race win capable at the Cup level is by beating the Cup guys when they invade the series. Last season Stenhouse won 6 times enroute to the championship proving that his 2011 title was no fluke. I don't really buy into the whole "Well the Cup guys keep invading our series & beating us". Go back to Martin Truex Jr's 2005 season, which was the last season a Busch Regular beat the Cup guys for the championship before Cup guys stopped getting points. Martin was tough that year, even for the Cup guys. The fact that he had Chance 2 Motorsports as his car owner has no bearing, other drivers had drove for them with the exception of Dale Jr, & had not had the same success. You gotta want it, & I mean want it bad. You gotta be willing to go for it & possibly die everytime you strap into your car otherwise what's the point, least that's how I see it...
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Mopardh9
Guest
I like Hornish and all, but getting a good ride in Cup is pretty much a non existent possibility now. I know he doesn't want to go back to the Indy car series, but i think that would be the best place for him or the American Lemans series.
StandOnIt
Farm Truck
My opinion is that Hornish pissed off Penske, should have won the season if he had used his head and didn't overdrive the car and got it set up right at the start to begin with. Not to mention the speeding on pit road penalty mistakes. Any other team if they had a driver that placed second in a series would renew their contract unless there was a real problem. Hornish also might have forced Penske into a Cup ride or else situation, and he got the or else side of the demand. He probably needed to talk to Kurt Busch before he made his demands.
3wideinturn1
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I think the reality of it is this, he's not that good. I've been saying for a while that he had plateaued as a driver and I stand by that. If I was Roger and I saw the 22 car win with 4 different drivers and then I looked at Hornish's performance in the 12, this would be the obvious move to make IMO. Nice guy and all, just not very good in a stock car.
sloggie
Racing I will teach you
Yep, he had his shot and didn't cut it. Time to move on.
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PushRodV8
Guest
I have to disagree with him not being a very good stock car driver, at least in the Nationwide series. He made a run for the championship WITH a win. He was one of the few Nationwide regulars that challenged the Cup regulars. The #22 and #54 teams can push the limit with setups as they aren't racing for points and a mechanical failure wouldn't impact anything besides a win and owners points. Were there times when he should have won and didn't....sure, but I wouldn't go as far as saying he isn't any good.
Sprint Cup is a different story though. He was mediocre at best. Tends to be that way with a lot of drivers.
Jeffrey00
Stamos Cozy
3wideinturn1
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The best NNS regular? You mean after Austin Dillon right? I don't see any teams beating down his door to sign him at this point. The fact that he finished 2nd in points and wasn't resigned by his own organization speaks volumes about his performance.
Look I know you're a fan, and I'm not here to bash him I'm just stating my views on the guy. He has had one good year in his entire NASCAR career, and it was in Nationwide. He had 1 win and his teammates had like 10 or something, I lost count that says it all.
Sam doesn't know how to drive cars with fenders, competitively. JMO.
Sam should follow JPM back to open wheel, where they both belong.
Sam should follow JPM back to open wheel, where they both belong.
KevinWI
Oldest Operating Motor Speedway In The World
Hornish was an open-wheel guy, but he never was a road-course guy. More of a high-winged sprint car oval guy like Kahne. I don't think he'd do good in a pure road course series like USCC. He bailed on IndyCar when the series started shifting from mostly ovals to mostly road courses.
KevinWI
Oldest Operating Motor Speedway In The World
Sam has had very limited success in NASCAR. It's clearly not his cup of tea. He's a talented driver, just not in a stock car.
3wideinturn1
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You certainly have some valid points, and I'm not going to take anything away from his title run. He was in the hunt until the very end, there's no doubt about that.
However I think if you look at his performance in relation to his teammates it wasn't even close. Now we can say it was setups or this, that and the other thing but at the end of the day he couldn't get it done. Also I think it's fair to say that besides JGR, Penske clearly has top notch equipment on the NNS side and Hornish had the benefit of driving some of the best stuff out there. I believe this past season was more of a one off than anything else, at no point in his career has he ever shown to be a championship caliber driver and I don't expect him to ever again.
KevinWI
Oldest Operating Motor Speedway In The World
He was mediocre in Cup but he had a pretty good season in Nationwide.
Wins - 1
2nd Place Finishes (where winner was Cup regular) - 5
3rd Place Finishes (where top 2 were Cup regulars) - 3
If you want to play the Austin Dillon game that means he's got 9 wins!
FLRacingFan
Team Owner
Not necessarily a fair judgement considering he's only run two full Nationwide seasons in his career, and he came in 4th last year. I think he's improving, and hopefully he finds a solid full-time Nationwide ride. Nothing wrong with being a very good career Nationwide driver.
FLRacingFan
Team Owner
Keselowski in 16 races in Nationwide this year: 8.9 average finish
Hornish Jr. in all 33 races in Nationwide this year: 9.0 average finish
Hornish Jr. in all 33 races in Nationwide this year: 9.0 average finish
You'll never see me pull for Dillon.
Sam should have dominated the Nationwide Series. Sam WAS a Cup driver, so the argument that he got beat by Cup drivers is null & void. Maybe ARCA would provide a more competitive field for Sam. He's simply not a stock car driver.
KevinWI
Oldest Operating Motor Speedway In The World
Yes, but by your own admission, he wasn't a very good Cup driver, so I don't know why you expect him to pull a Kyle Busch and win every NNW race.
My point was that Sam is out of his competitive element in NASCAR and should return to a form of racing where he can be competitive.
FLRacingFan
Team Owner
If Hornish and everyone not as good as him should go to ARCA the Nationwide series would never see a car count larger than five.
KevinWI
Oldest Operating Motor Speedway In The World
Yeah, somewhere like Nationwide where he ran pretty good this year.
I disagree. Sam is occupying a seat where an up & coming, young stock car driver should be sitting. I feel the same way about Elliot Sadler. I like Sadler, but he and Sam aren't competitive in this sport. They aren't ever going to be no matter how far back you move them. They will be field fillers as long as they are here. Soon they will be over-looked for younger, faster talent and they will become the next Labonte, Nemechek, Bodine, Green, etc.
Moving down from the Cup Series, he should have dominated.
3wideinturn1
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Nothing wrong with being a good NNS driver at all, but ask yourself this. Is Sam a competitive driver next year if he's not driving Penske equipment? I think it's very fair to say that the level of competition is much less on the NNS. Looking at his career as a whole in NASCAR, I'm not inclined to believe he'll ever have a better season than the one he just had.
FLRacingFan
Team Owner
I think that is what Logano, Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Kenseth, Harvick, and Kahne are actually doing.
2nd place in the championship each of the last two years suggests otherwise. They're never going to be Cup stars but they're far away from being field-fillers.
FLRacingFan
Team Owner
I guess we'll have to find out. If he has to drive for RAB Racing or RPM or a similar team, probably not. But I wouldn't fault him for that. Kyle Busch driving for KBM and Kyle Busch driving for JGR were also polar opposites.
Do you think Sam is running in the Nationwide Series right now because that's where he wants to stay??????
This year, 8 teams occupied the top 14 finishing spots in the Cup Series. Which of those 8 team owners do you think would vacate one of their current Cup Teams for Sam Hornish?
FLRacingFan
Team Owner
If he's competitive in it, yes. He's said he doesn't want to drive a crappy Cup ride. He'd rather stay home than not run well.
I expect he'll sit next year out then. He wasn't a threat in the last competitive Cup car he was in. JMO.
I'm not trying to bash. Sam isn't the first open wheel driver that hasn't been able to make the transition. I don't think Sam wants to remain in the Nationwide Series. I also do not feel that he will develop into a competitive Cup Series driver. There will not be any top ten seats opening up in the future. I'm just being realistic.