Hornish Leads Penske Cup Series Contingent at Phoenix
April 9, 2010
AVONDALE, Ariz. (April 9, 2010) – Sam Hornish Jr., driver of the No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger, led the Penske Racing trio of Cup Series drivers with a NASCAR career-best third-place qualifying effort for the Subway Fresh Fit 600 at Phoenix International Raceway. Drivers Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski qualified in 19th and 22nd place, respectively.
Hornish was the 33rd qualifier to make an attempt at the one-mile tri-oval and posted a fast-lap time of 26.826 seconds at a speed of 134.198 miles per hour. The top-three qualifying effort marks another milestone in a series of “firsts” for Hornish that were achieved at the “Jewel of the Desert.” Phoenix International Raceway is the site of his first IndyCar Series win (3/18/01), his first race in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (11/11/06), his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut (11/11/07), and his first top-10 in Cup Series competition (04/18/09).
"This year, we've run better than the results have shown in our Mobil 1 Dodge,” said Hornish. “The cars have been really good this year. We ran good at Atlanta and Bristol and should have taken away top 10s at each race. But we're making great progress and I'm really happy with that qualifying effort today. If we can run like that tomorrow night, it will be a good day. We just need to go out there tomorrow and make it to the end and stay out of trouble. I'm really proud of the Penske Racing guys for the car they brought here to Phoenix."
The Subway Fresh Fit 600 will air live on Saturday, April 10 on the FOX television network beginning at 7:30 p.m. EDT. Race coverage will also be broadcast live on MRN Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio.