News

FORT WORTH, Texas (April 16, 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 second-place qualifying effort for the Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Drivers Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski qualified in 11th and 37th place, respectively.

Hornish was the 25th qualifier to make an attempt at the 1.5-mile quad-oval and posted a fast-lap time of 28.238 seconds at a speed of 191.232 miles per hour. The second-place qualifying effort trumps last weekend’s third-place result as the career-best starting position for Hornish in NASCAR competition.

Hornish, a three-time IndyCar Series champion, is no stranger to success at Texas Motor Speedway where he has a total of two top-20 finishes in the NASCAR competition along with seven top-five results, including three victories, in the IndyCar Series.

“It was a good qualifying run for us for sure,” said Hornish. “The Mobil 1 Dodge was on the free side which was what we had in practice, but I didn’t want to push it that hard. We did make a pretty big jump from where we were in practice. I’m really happy with the effort all the guys are putting in on the car. It makes race days go by a lot easier when you get to start up front.

“We’re real close now to where we were at in Atlanta (performance wise and handling) even though we have the spoiler now. I was real happy with our car at Atlanta. If the Mobil 1 Dodge runs anything like it did at Atlanta, and starting where we are this weekend, we’re going to lead some laps. So, I’m definitely looking forward to Sunday.”

The Samsung Mobile 500 will air live on Sunday, April 18 on the FOX television network beginning at 3 p.m. EDT. Race coverage will also be broadcast live on PRN Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio.