Sam Hornish Jr. to split JGR #54 with Kyle Busch

SlicedBread22 said:
.. Sam might get a win or two but I don't see him being anything like Kyle in that car... 2 wins max and Sam takes that car out of the owners championship at some point..
Click to expand...


Sounds like you finally realized how good Kyle is :D
 
SlicedBread22 said:
.. Sam might get a win or two but I don't see him being anything like Kyle in that car... 2 wins max and Sam takes that car out of the owners championship at some point..
Click to expand...

Not saying he is going to dominate but it is a smart decision to drive a car that contend for wins on a limited basis than drive for some mid pack team.
 
Last year it was the Fords and Toyota's that were the car to beat. Ford won the manufactures championship, Hornish was driving a Ford full time on the winning team and it wasn't his Ford that won it. So now he is driving part time on the second place finishing team and people think it is a smart move? More like a desperation move to me. Nobody stepped up with a full time ride in cup which Sam made known that was where he wanted to be. Owners gave them to green rookies and others. All that was left was a fill in driver in Nationwide and I bet they tell him to not take any chances and keep the fenders on it. Lets face it, the only thing cup drivers in Nationwide can win is the owners championship for their team. All Sam is going to do in only 6 or 7 races is try to help Kyle win it.
 
StandOnIt said:
Last year it was the Fords and Toyota's that were the car to beat. Ford won the manufactures championship, Hornish was driving a Ford full time on the winning team and it wasn't his Ford that won it. So now he is driving part time on the second place finishing team and people think it is a smart move? More like a desperation move to me. Nobody stepped up with a full time ride in cup which Sam made known that was where he wanted to be. Owners gave them to green rookies and others. All that was left was a fill in driver in Nationwide and I bet they tell him to not take any chances and keep the fenders on it. Lets face it, the only thing cup drivers in Nationwide can win is the owners championship for their team. All Sam is going to do in only 6 or 7 races is try to help Kyle win it.
Click to expand...
Well, the only reason the #54 didn't win the Owner Championship is because Joey Coulter drove three races in it and never finished better than 14th. The #22 had a better driver lineup with it being split up 15-14-2-2 with Kez, Logano, Allmendinger, and Blaney and they won by only one point. The #54 had better pure speed with significantly more poles and laps led.

Sam didn't want just any full-time Cup ride - he made it known he'd rather stay at home than run backmarker equipment every Sunday. If he can run as well as or better than he did last year he can probably springboard it into a good full-time ride in 2015, as long as Gibbs doesn't wait until the end of the season and hangs him out to dry like Penske did.
 
Sam may have to settle for a full time Nationwide ride for 2015, he will be lucky if he gets that IMO
 
FLRacingFan said:
Well, the only reason the #54 didn't win the Owner Championship is because Joey Coulter drove three races in it and never finished better than 14th. The #22 had a better driver lineup with it being split up 15-14-2-2 with Kez, Logano, Allmendinger, and Blaney and they won by only one point. The #54 had better pure speed with significantly more poles and laps led.

Sam didn't want just any full-time Cup ride - he made it known he'd rather stay at home than run backmarker equipment every Sunday. If he can run as well as or better than he did last year he can probably springboard it into a good full-time ride in 2015, as long as Gibbs doesn't wait until the end of the season and hangs him out to dry like Penske did.
Click to expand...

Coulter only ran two races in the 54 not three..the 54 came in second it was Kyle's old car number that Gibbs took over, he lost the owners championship by one point just like Carl Edwards lost the championship. Don't think Sam is going to springboard anywhere playing relief driver. His job is to drive conservatively and not screw anything up...something he hasn't been able to do much of in his Nascar career. 28th was his highest full time season finish in cup. Who but a back marker team would offer him a job?
 
StandOnIt said:
Coulter only ran two races in the 54 not three..the 54 came in second it was Kyle's old car number that Gibbs took over, he lost the owners championship by one point just like Carl Edwards lost the championship. Don't think Sam is going to springboard anywhere playing relief driver. His job is to drive conservatively and not screw anything up...something he hasn't been able to do much of in his Nascar career. 28th was his highest full time season finish in cup. Who but a back marker team would offer him a job?
Click to expand...
Yeah, you're right, he ran two in the #54 and one in the #18. Still, he came in only 21st and 14th in those two races. You put even Drew Herring in there for one of those races and I'd bet the farm they win the OC.

I highly doubt Joe signed him to tell him to take it easy out there. Herring grabbed a pole and finished 6th-6th-11th in his three races in that car, and Owen Kelly qualified 2nd and 3rd in his two races and bulldozed most of the field at Road America. At the very least he should be able to get a good full-time Nationwide ride the following season.

Regardless, I doubt Sam is disappointed with how things ended up.
 
He took a hell of a cut in pay, I'll give ya that. I like Sam, but his all or nothing attitude got him 6 or seven races this year. Didn't work out worth a dam IMO. That's a so far though. He might swallow his pride and run some races in cup with teams who could use his abilities to help them get a better finish.
 
StandOnIt said:
He took a hell of a cut in pay, I'll give ya that. I like Sam, but his all or nothing attitude got him 6 or seven races this year. Didn't work out worth a dam IMO. That's a so far though. He might swallow his pride and run some races in cup with teams who could use his abilities to help them get a better finish.
Click to expand...


lets see a chance to win 7 races, or just a chance to run a full season in a 10th-20th NNS ride? If Penske had told him about his release earlier he'd probably be in a decent full time NNS ride.
 
wilson89 said:
Not saying he is going to dominate but it is a smart decision to drive a car that contend for wins on a limited basis than drive for some mid pack team.
Click to expand...
Im just sayin... Penske isn't a mmid pack team... he finished 2nd and the 22 won the owners championship over the 54.. Im not saying its a bad move.. if hes not gona be in the 12 or another full time ride that's the next best thing of course.
 
Jeffrey00 said:
lets see a chance to win 7 races, or just a chance to run a full season in a 10th-20th NNS ride? If Penske had told him about his release earlier he'd probably be in a decent full time NNS ride.
Click to expand...

I agree with what you're saying in regards to Hornish getting a chance to win and showcase himself. However, you can't keep saying Penske hung him out to dry. That's a total misrepresentation of what really happened.

Hornish didn't do anything to warrant being kept on after his terrible Cup career. Penske kept him on anyways, even when there was no funding and no ride. For an entire year, Penske paid Hornish to stay home on the sidelines while they tried to get a ride and funding put together. They finally were able to put something together and Sam got another 2 years of a full time ride in NNS and a half year in Cup. After all that, Hornish still couldn't find any sponsorship or even anyone willing to give him another shot in Cup or decent NNS ride. How long was Penske supposed to keep the guys career afloat? He should have been thanking his lucky stars that Penske had a soft spot for him, otherwise he would have been turfed a long time ago with no chance of redemption. I just can't understand why you think he got screwed by Penske? Even though he was driving for one of the best teams, he couldn't win races consistently and he can't find sponsorship, sounds to me like Penske did what any other team owner would have done except he gave Hornish about 4 years longer than most others would have.
 
He's a mediocre stock car driver, plain and simple. I don't know why he thinks he deserves a full-time ride with any halfway decent Cup team.
 
When your best full time season finish in cup is 28th?, you going to have trouble finding a sponsor and finding any owner that thinks you belong in cup. Patrick, Regan and Gilliland territory. Regan and Gilliland are not driving anything close to Penske caliber cars either.
 
Jeffrey00 said:
ugh, that isnt what I was hoping for. Oh well, when Sam shows up the other non-cup JGR talent he will have a full time ride in 2015. Probably in the 11.
Click to expand...

Sam is likely a great guy , and I hope he does well in the Nationwide ride . But , in my opinion , there is a greater chance that Denny will win a Cup title than Sam getting a full time Cup ride.
 
3wideinturn1 said:
I agree with what you're saying in regards to Hornish getting a chance to win and showcase himself. However, you can't keep saying Penske hung him out to dry. That's a total misrepresentation of what really happened.

Hornish didn't do anything to warrant being kept on after his terrible Cup career. Penske kept him on anyways, even when there was no funding and no ride. For an entire year, Penske paid Hornish to stay home on the sidelines while they tried to get a ride and funding put together. They finally were able to put something together and Sam got another 2 years of a full time ride in NNS and a half year in Cup. After all that, Hornish still couldn't find any sponsorship or even anyone willing to give him another shot in Cup or decent NNS ride. How long was Penske supposed to keep the guys career afloat? He should have been thanking his lucky stars that Penske had a soft spot for him, otherwise he would have been turfed a long time ago with no chance of redemption. I just can't understand why you think he got screwed by Penske? Even though he was driving for one of the best teams, he couldn't win races consistently and he can't find sponsorship, sounds to me like Penske did what any other team owner would have done except he gave Hornish about 4 years longer than most others would have.
Click to expand...

His horrible Cup career is because these owners think you can just bring a guy from Open Wheel to Stock cars and be successful right off the bat.....Unless your name is Tony Stewart you cannot go from Open Wheel to Stock Cars and be successful
 
ClintBowser15 said:
His horrible Cup career is because these owners think you can just bring a guy from Open Wheel to Stock cars and be successful right off the bat.....Unless your name is Tony Stewart you cannot go from Open Wheel to Stock Cars and be successful
Click to expand...
Ever hear of Tim Richmond, Parnelli Jones, Mario Andretti, Dan Gurney and AJ Foyt among others?
 
ClintBowser15 said:
His horrible Cup career is because these owners think you can just bring a guy from Open Wheel to Stock cars and be successful right off the bat.....Unless your name is Tony Stewart you cannot go from Open Wheel to Stock Cars and be successful
Click to expand...

His horrible Cup career was no ones fault but his own. Good racecar drivers can adapt, they adapt to different cars, tracks, setups etc. Sam just couldn't adapt and there's no shame in that because its a very competitive series. I'm just sick and tired of hearing how it was Roger Penske's fault he failed. Roger did everything he could have to help Sam be successful and it didn't happen. If he had been driving for HMS, RCR, JGR, Roush and so on, he would have been cut loose A LONG TIME AGO. I just don't understand where all this Sam Hornish Jr. sympathy comes from.
 
3wide, I'm admittedly sympathetic to Hornish because I was a fan of his during his IndyCar days. But you are absolutely right in that Penske was far more patient with him than many other owners would have been.

Also, it's not like Penske wasn't already having success with another open-wheel guy in Ryan Newman at the time, so calling him foolish for thinking another open-wheel guy could make the jump (especially one that won him an Indy 500) isn't fair or accurate to anyone involved. In the end, though, a Cup career probably isn't in the cards for Hornish, and there's no shame in that because he's still a great racer.
 
3wideinturn1 said:
His horrible Cup career was no ones fault but his own. Good racecar drivers can adapt, they adapt to different cars, tracks, setups etc. Sam just couldn't adapt and there's no shame in that because its a very competitive series. I'm just sick and tired of hearing how it was Roger Penske's fault he failed. Roger did everything he could have to help Sam be successful and it didn't happen. If he had been driving for HMS, RCR, JGR, Roush and so on, he would have been cut loose A LONG TIME AGO. I just don't understand where all this Sam Hornish Jr. sympathy comes from.
Click to expand...
Penske himself said he got Sam started off on the wrong foot.

"To see Sam race at the level he did with Kyle, right there all night, shows what a great racer he is," Penske said. "My issue with myself is I started him in the Cup level with no practice. One of the greatest open-wheel racers we had in IndyCar. I think maybe I started his career backwards."

Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20131117/nascar02/131119828#ixzz2qhJU6xA7
 
FLRacingFan said:
Penske himself said he got Sam started off on the wrong foot.

"To see Sam race at the level he did with Kyle, right there all night, shows what a great racer he is," Penske said. "My issue with myself is I started him in the Cup level with no practice. One of the greatest open-wheel racers we had in IndyCar. I think maybe I started his career backwards."

Read more: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20131117/nascar02/131119828#ixzz2qhJU6xA7
Click to expand...

I don't disagree that he was rushed to Cup and perhaps his career was started backwards. However, I think that is just shifting the blame and the notion that Hornish failed because of Penske's mishandling of him is complete hogwash.

My main contention is that good drivers are able to adapt to whatever they drive. Moreover, the fact that Roger rushed him to Cup wasn't the reason it didn't work out but rather it was because Hornish couldn't adapt. I don't think he's terrible, in fact I believe he'd be a better option for JGR than Elliot Sadler but the sponsorship just isn't there and Sadler brought some with him so that's likely a non starter.
 
I guess Penske was twisting Sam's arm, poor guy getting shoved up in cup like that. LARSON, DILLON..you guys reading this. It works for lil Danny though so far.
 
3wideinturn1 said:
I don't disagree that he was rushed to Cup and perhaps his career was started backwards. However, I think that is just shifting the blame and the notion that Hornish failed because of Penske's mishandling of him is complete hogwash.

My main contention is that good drivers are able to adapt to whatever they drive. Moreover, the fact that Roger rushed him to Cup wasn't the reason it didn't work out but rather it was because Hornish couldn't adapt. I don't think he's terrible, in fact I believe he'd be a better option for JGR than Elliot Sadler but the sponsorship just isn't there and Sadler brought some with him so that's likely a non starter.
Click to expand...
You could say he failed initially but I think that is because he started out in Cup too soon. In the three seasons in which he attempted all 36 Cup races his average finish went 29.6/25.0/24.9 - but in 2012 (when he subbed for Allmendinger after the suspension), after he had some more experience running in the Nationwide Series, his average finish was down to 19.4. Fantastic, no, but it was close to that of some notable full-time drivers like Logano (17.4) and Ambrose (17.9), and actually better than some like Jeff Burton (19.6), Almirola (20.0), McMurray (20.1), and Kurt Busch (23.2). Some of those guys got second and third opportunities with better teams (Logano and Busch) and some got contract extensions (Ambrose, Almirola, McMurray).

I certainly agree he should have the full-time ride over Sadler...but yeah, OneMain. If MWR didn't go full retard at Richmond Sam may have had a shot at the #78.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom