Sam Hornish Jr. Las Vegas Preview
SAM HORNISH JR. No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Shelby 427 March 1, 2009 Sam Hornish Jr. Racing History at Las Vegas Motor Speedway DATE SERIES RACE START FINISH LAPS STATUS 3/2/2008 NSCS UAW-Dodge 400 20 41 152 Running 4/22/2000 IRL Vegas Indy 300 18 3 208 Running Mobil 1 Team News and Notes of Interest * Sam Hornish Jr., driver of the Penske Racing No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger, returns to Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a full year of Sprint Cup Series competition under his belt. Last season, Hornish and the Mobil 1 team had strong runs at several intermediate tracks and will look to capitalize on that success in 2009. * Last weekend at Auto Club Speedway, Hornish rain inside the top-20 in the running order for most the race before pit road troubles during a green flag pit stop cost the No. 77 position on track. Hornish and team regrouped and were able to secure a 23rd-place finish for the team. Hornish is now 29th in the 2009 driver point standings. * Hornish has one Sprint Cup Series start and one IndyCar Series start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Across both series, he has two top-20 starts and one top-three finish at the 1.5-mile D-shaped oval. * The Mobil 1 team will unload PRS-585 this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This chassis was last raced by Hornish at Texas Motor Speedway in November 2008 where he earned a 23rd-place finish. The backup car, PRS-553, was last raced by Hornish at Phoenix International Raceway in November 2008. * Hornish will participate in the Kurt Busch Sprint for the Kids charity event at Pole Position Raceway in Las Vegas on Thursday, February 26. He joins fellow Penske drivers David Stremme and Justin Allgaier, along with Busch, to raise funds to benefit The Kurt Busch Foundation and the Victory Junction Gang Camp. * Hornish will be on hand to sign autographs at the Penske Racing souvenir trailer on Sunday, March 1 from 9:30 -10 a.m. PST. Sam Hornish Jr. on Las Vegas Motor Speedway "Las Vegas Motor Speedway is where I got my first podium in the IndyCar Series. In that sense the track is very special to me. Hopefully, we will be able to run a whole lot more laps in Vegas this year than we did last year and capture a strong finish. "Last season, our intermediate track program emerged as on of our strongest efforts. With a full season behind me in a stock car and at all the tracks where we race, I feel that we will make great strides as a team this season especially at intermediate tracks. Looking forward into the 2009 season, I really think that we should be able to consistently run inside the top 20." Crew Chief Travis Geisler on Las Vegas Motor Speedway "The Mobil 1 team is excited to pickup where we left off last week at Auto Club Speedway. We had a solid run in Fontana, and I believe we were on our way to a top-15 finish at the least. I am happy with the progress our Intermediate program has made over the winter and Las Vegas should be another good opportunity to get a good solid run. The new Dodge engines performed great last week and we are proud of everyone at Penske Engines for getting the R6 engines ready for the start of the year." Media Contact: Melanie Hamilton at (704) 677-9100 or melanie.hamilton@penskeracing.com This release and additional materials available online to registered media members at media.penskeracing.com ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager at security@penskecorp.com **********************************************************************