Hornish Finishes 30th at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
July 26, 2010
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (July 25, 2010) – Sam Hornish Jr., driver of the Penske Racing No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, finished 30th in the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday after being collected in a multi-car accident on the opening lap of the race. Hornish was able to complete the 400-mile race but was never able to regain lost valuable track position caused by the incident.
Hornish lined up to start the prestigious race from the 25th position and set to the task of working his way toward the front of the field. Unfortunately, before the first lap was complete at the famed 2.5-mile speedway, a multi-car accident in Turn 2 collected the No. 77 machine. The Mobil 1 Dodge sustained substantial damage to the right-rear of the race car and Hornish immediately came to pit road for repairs.
The Mobil 1 crew used a series of pit stops under the caution flag to make repairs to the No. 77 Dodge. Although Hornish restarted the race in 39th place positioned two laps down to the leaders, the repairs made on pit road prevented the team from facing an insurmountable deficit on track.
Hornish and the No. 77 team utilized the “wave around” option strategy by choosing not to pit under caution on a couple of occasions in order to regain one of the laps lost. However, both times the team was forced to pit under green-flag conditions and was off-sequence with the rest of the field as a result. Hornish and the Mobil 1 team worked to improve the race car until the checkered flag waved. Despite a disappointing afternoon at the Brickyard, Hornish and the Mobil 1 crew remained focused and were able to salvage a 30th-place finish.
"A tough start pretty much cemented our fate today,” said Hornish. “I was just trying to let things sort out at the start of the race when the No. 18 got loose. I went underneath him because there was no point in driving behind him. I’m not sure if he clipped us or got into somebody else, but I got clipped in the right-rear. I tried to keep it from spinning out, but just needed 12 inches to keep it off the wall. It’s disappointing. We work so hard and looked forward to racing here. We didn’t make it half a lap before trouble found us."
Penske Racing teammates Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski finished the race in 10th and 19th place, respectively.
Hornish and the No. 77 team head to Pocono Raceway next weekend for the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 on Sunday, August 1, 2010. Racing action will air live on the ESPN television network beginning at 1 p.m. EDT. The race will also be broadcast live on MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio.