NASCAR Cup
Fontana II: Sam Hornish Jr preview
Sam Hornish Jr., driver of the Penske Racing No. 77 Penske Truck Rental Dodge Charger, will make his second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. this Sunday night in the Pepsi 500. Earlier this season, Hornish ...
Published: Aug 29, 2008, 2:25 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Sam Hornish Jr., driver of the Penske Racing No. 77 Penske Truck Rental Dodge Charger, will make his second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. this Sunday night in the Pepsi 500. Earlier this season, Hornish started seventh and finished 43rd after an accident at the two-mile D-shaped oval.
Hornish has a total of four IndyCar Series starts at California Speedway with an impressive record of two wins (2002, 2003) and four top-five finishes.
Hornish is currently in second place in the 2008 Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings. He trails leader Regan Smith by two points and leads third place driver Patrick Carpentier by nine points.
Hornish and the No. 77 team are currently 35th in the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series owner points standings following the race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
PRS-581: The primary car for the Penske Truck Rental team this weekend is a brand new race car.
PRS-571: The backup race car for this weekend was the primary car for Hornish earlier this season at the first event at Pocono Raceway (June 8) and Indianapolis Motor Speedway (July 27).
Sam Hornish Jr. on Auto Club Speedway
"I've definitely had a lot of success at Auto Club Speedway in the IndyCar Series. I have two wins there and have always finished well there in the Indy cars.
"The track in Fontana is a very similar to Michigan International Speedway (MIS). It's like being at home a little bit since I was raised around MIS. Although we've finished 22nd at Michigan twice this year in the Sprint Cup car, we have raced much better than that. Since both tracks are so similar, I am expecting this to be a good weekend for myself and the Penske Truck Rental team."
Crew Chief Travis Geisler on Auto Club Speedway
"One of the biggest challenges we face at Auto Club Speedway is the weather conditions in inland Southern California. It is typically extremely hot out there this time of year. With the race starting in the day and ending at night, it is important to be able to have some adjustability in the race car.
"With our first race together under our belts, I'm looking forward to having a normal race schedule with Sam this weekend. This will allow us more time for discussion about the Penske Truck Rental Dodge and getting a solid game plan in place for Sunday night."
-credit: pr
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Fontana II: Travis Kvapil preview
Next article Fontana II: Regan Smith preview
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Regan Smith
Every time NASCAR took a win away due yellow line violations
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
Every time NASCAR took a win away due yellow line violations
Dale Jr. on Regan Smith: “I’m thrilled to have him back”
NASCAR O'Reilly
NASCAR O'Reilly
Dale Jr. on Regan Smith: “I’m thrilled to have him back”
Kasey Kahne to miss Brickyard 400 due to extreme heat exhaustion
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Indianapolis
Kasey Kahne to miss Brickyard 400 due to extreme heat exhaustion
More from
Team Penske
Winners and losers from the penultimate round of 2026 NASCAR Cup season at Martinsville
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Martinsville II
Winners and losers from the penultimate round of 2026 NASCAR Cup season at Martinsville
'There’s more to come' as IndyCar and NASCAR leaders eye future doubleheaders
IndyCar
IndyCar
'There’s more to come' as IndyCar and NASCAR leaders eye future doubleheaders
You Ask The Questions: David Malukas
IndyCar
You Ask The Questions: David Malukas
Latest news
Kyle Larson, Cliff Daniels and the Hendrick 5 are who we say they are
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
11 min
Kyle Larson, Cliff Daniels and the Hendrick 5 are who we say they are
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
4 h
Final NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Homestead finale
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
4 h
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Homestead season finale
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
4 h
Ryan Blaney wins Homestead NASCAR Cup finale as Kyle Larson claims 2026 title
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe