Hornish gets a lesson, Kenseth a win
Sam Hornish Jr.’s NASCAR debut was decidedly more humbling than his Indianapolis 500 victory six months ago, but Hornish said the race Saturday was still a learning experience.
Driving his first stock-car race, Hornish labored during most of the Busch Series event at Phoenix International Raceway. Then he was involved in a late-race crash that knocked out his Dodge and left him with a 36th-place finish.
“I wanted another challenge and it proved to be that,” Hornish said.
Pole-sitter Matt Kenseth held off fellow Nextel Cup driver Kevin Harvick to win the race, his second Busch victory of the year for Roush Racing.
The race included Hornish and another former Indy 500 winner, Juan Pablo Montoya, who permanently moved to NASCAR this summer. He finished 20th.
Montoya is preparing to drive in the Nextel Cup series next year for the team of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.
Hornish, 27, won his third IndyCar Series championship this year for team owner Roger Penske, and plans to stay in the open-wheel racing series at least through 2007. But he’s testing a Penske stock car for a potential future move.
“It was a rough day out there, but for my first stock-car race I didn’t think it was terrible, it could have been a lot worse,” Hornish said. “You enjoy yourself a lot more when you’re doing well.
“We’re learning exactly what the car needs to be able to go fast,” he said.
“There are a lot of little things that are going to take some time to learn.”
Hornish said he would try again next weekend at the final Busch race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida.
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