Sam Hornish Finishes 7th Under the Lights at Daytona
July 6, 2013
THE RACE
The Subway Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway (2.5-mile superspeedway, Daytona Beach, Fla.)
THE RESULTS
The No. 12 PPG Ford Mustang
Start Position: 5
Finish Position: 7
Status: Running
Current Driver's Points Position: 2
THE RACE REVIEW
· Sam Hornish Jr. began the event from the inside of row three based on his qualifying effort. He lapped the 2.5-mile superspeedway in 50.468 seconds at an average speed of 178.331 miles per hour.
· During the early laps of the race, Hornish bided his time as he worked with various drivers. At lap seven, he and teammate Joey Logano paired up to tandem draft.
· By lap nine, Logano had pushed Hornish to the front of the field. The two Penske Racing drivers worked together seamlessly to lead 20 of the first 30 laps of the 250-mile race.
· Hornish and Logano were consistently the two fastest and most proficient drafting partners as they led the field for 54 of the first 93 laps.
· A series of late race cautions, which included a red flag to clean the racing surface after a multi-car crash, separated the teammates.
· On the final restart, Hornish and Logano were not able to pair up and subsequently had to fend for themselves resulting in a seventh-place finish for the No. 12 PPG Ford Mustang team.
· The result allowed Hornish to maintain the second spot in the series standings, just six points behind leader Regan Smith.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
TELL US ABOUT YOUR RACE.
“Our Ford Mustangs showed the way for most of the show. We got separated on one of the restarts and then by the time we got back up there to try and make our move, the yellow came out and we were all jacked up as far as where we were on the lineup. There was confusion as to positioning on the last restart. This made it difficult to get hooked back up, but once we got hooked up, I was like, ‘great,’ and then I looked and I saw where the leaders were at and they were gone. I was surprised that Joey and I got hooked back up. We showed what these Roush Yates power plants could do and how good our Mustangs were, but the crucial thing for us is we got out of here with a car still intact, which was very fast, so that’s great for coming back here the next time. We had a teammate that worked with us all night and took care of us and helped us out with the points, and we gained a couple more, so that’s all you can hope to do on days like this. We wanted much more, but some days it’s not meant to be, so I’m happy with our PPG Ford Mustang. It’s a bit frustrating to lead that many laps and not be able to at least get a top five out of it, but for what happened to us at some of these other plate races, where you get back just a little bit and have a problem, you’ve got to be thankful for the points that we did get.” - Sam Hornish Jr.
The Subway Firecracker 250 at Daytona International Speedway (2.5-mile superspeedway, Daytona Beach, Fla.)
THE RESULTS
The No. 12 PPG Ford Mustang
Start Position: 5
Finish Position: 7
Status: Running
Current Driver's Points Position: 2
THE RACE REVIEW
· Sam Hornish Jr. began the event from the inside of row three based on his qualifying effort. He lapped the 2.5-mile superspeedway in 50.468 seconds at an average speed of 178.331 miles per hour.
· During the early laps of the race, Hornish bided his time as he worked with various drivers. At lap seven, he and teammate Joey Logano paired up to tandem draft.
· By lap nine, Logano had pushed Hornish to the front of the field. The two Penske Racing drivers worked together seamlessly to lead 20 of the first 30 laps of the 250-mile race.
· Hornish and Logano were consistently the two fastest and most proficient drafting partners as they led the field for 54 of the first 93 laps.
· A series of late race cautions, which included a red flag to clean the racing surface after a multi-car crash, separated the teammates.
· On the final restart, Hornish and Logano were not able to pair up and subsequently had to fend for themselves resulting in a seventh-place finish for the No. 12 PPG Ford Mustang team.
· The result allowed Hornish to maintain the second spot in the series standings, just six points behind leader Regan Smith.
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
TELL US ABOUT YOUR RACE.
“Our Ford Mustangs showed the way for most of the show. We got separated on one of the restarts and then by the time we got back up there to try and make our move, the yellow came out and we were all jacked up as far as where we were on the lineup. There was confusion as to positioning on the last restart. This made it difficult to get hooked back up, but once we got hooked up, I was like, ‘great,’ and then I looked and I saw where the leaders were at and they were gone. I was surprised that Joey and I got hooked back up. We showed what these Roush Yates power plants could do and how good our Mustangs were, but the crucial thing for us is we got out of here with a car still intact, which was very fast, so that’s great for coming back here the next time. We had a teammate that worked with us all night and took care of us and helped us out with the points, and we gained a couple more, so that’s all you can hope to do on days like this. We wanted much more, but some days it’s not meant to be, so I’m happy with our PPG Ford Mustang. It’s a bit frustrating to lead that many laps and not be able to at least get a top five out of it, but for what happened to us at some of these other plate races, where you get back just a little bit and have a problem, you’ve got to be thankful for the points that we did get.” - Sam Hornish Jr.