By TIM McDONOUGH
mcdonough@crescent-news.com
The first five races of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series are in the books and Rookie of the Year candidate Sam Hornish Jr. finds himself holding his own. With a break in the schedule this week for Easter, Hornish will be home in Ohio for a short break before hitting the road again for testing and the next race at Martinsville, Va. on Sunday, March 30.
Nobody is more happy to be home than Hornish, who was looking forward to some quality time with his wife Crystal and new daughter Addison Faith, as well as the rest of his immediate family.
"So far this year is going how I thought it would. It was great last week because Crystal and Addison were with me in North Carolina and it was very nice," said Hornish. "When I'm traveling so much it's very hard and this is my first time to really be home.
"But it's great being a new dad, it's awesome," continued Hornish. "I'm trying to spend as much time with my family as I can, and I have to say it's amazing to see how Addison has grown so quickly. It's a lot of fun being a new dad."
While being a new dad and getting used to a whole new style of racing has been daunting, Hornish is pleased with the progress of the Penske Racing Mobil 1 Dodge team.
After swapping points with Penske Racing teammate and former champion Kurt Busch at the start of the season to lock in the first five races on the schedule, Hornish has raced his way into the top 35 where he needs to be to guarantee a spot in the field each week.
Hornish, the three-time IndyCar Series champion racing his first full year on the NASCAR circuit, is currently 35th in points, 426 behind leader Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing.
"It feels pretty good to be in the top 35 right now, especially after how bad California and Las Vegas went," said Hornish who finished 15th in this year's Daytona 500. "There were things out of our control in both of those races which put us behind. At California we were collected in a wreck and at Las Vegas we had a tire blow. But we've rebounded well and we're glad to be in the top 35."
As the season moves forward, Hornish knows he has to stay in the top 35 each week to guarantee himself a spot in the field, but if bad luck bites the team, he feels comfortable that he and the Mobil 1 Dodge team can still put the car in the field no matter where they go racing.
Said Hornish: "We obviously had expectations of being better off, and the guys are working hard to make the situation even better. Hopefully we can stay out of trouble and stay in the top 35 so we don't have to qualify our way into races.
"The good thing, so far anyway, is that we would have qualified for the first five races on speed if we had to," continued Hornish. "We know there's pressure every weekend and right now I'm taking it as it is ... we can only do what we can and right now it's all about being smart."
With a schedule that includes 30-some races instead of 14 to 17 like he was used to in Indycars, including much more testing, Hornish finds his schedule full almost every day. The good thing about being so busy, according to Hornish is that it makes time go quickly.
"Time is really flying by so fast, being so busy makes time go so fast it seems," noted Hornish. "We've been all over the place and sometimes I feel like I don't know where I'm headed. But I know the more I learn and the faster I learn it, the easier it's going to be and things will slow down."
So far Hornish hasn't raced too close to home, so he's looking forward to racing at places like Michigan International Speedway in June and August, as well as Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway in July.
Concluded Hornish: "We have been all over the place like I said earlier, but really nowhere close to home. I'm looking forward to Michigan, the Brickyard and Chicago where I know I'll see a lot more familiar faces. It's been a little weird not seeing as many fans as I'm used to seeing, so getting back to race in the Midwest will be a lot of fun."