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NEWS
MOTORSPORT: Hornish to replace Ambrose
Richard Petty will fill Marcos Ambrose's NASCAR seat with a driver who won an Indy 500 for Roger Penske but flopped first time around in the big league of stock car racingAs Marcos Ambrose prepares to return to V8 Supercar racing and drive for Roger Penske, Richard Petty Motorsports has chosen a former Penske driver – and Indianapolis 500 winner – as his replacement in NASCAR.
Sam Hornish Junior (pictured) won the 2006 Indy 500 for Penske – one of The Captain's record 15 victories in the American open-wheeler classic – and is a three-time IndyCar champion (once with Penske).
However, Hornish failed in his previous full-time stock car career, never finishing higher than 28th in three full seasons in the Sprint Cup, and Penske demoted him to NASCAR's second-tier championship, the Nationwide Series, as he put his faith in Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.
Keselowski won the 2012 Sprint Cup for Penske and 24-year-old Logano is leading the series this year with six races remaining.
The only night race of the concluding 10-round Chase for the Sprint Cup title is this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
It will be the last race for Ambrose in the city he has made his home for almost a decade and he is desperate for a first oval-track win in his Petty Ford before returning to Australia, where Penske's chief racing lieutenant Tim Cindric is attending the Bathurst 1000.
Hornish has driven just eight Nationwide races this year, for the team of former American coach Joe Gibbs – winning one of them.
Although his image has been battered by his lack of major success in stock car racing after 19 victories in IndyCars, Hornish said: "I've been very blessed to work with some icons in motorsports ... the opportunity to work for 'The King' (Richard Petty) coming out of the year of a part-time job after working for 'Coach' (Joe Gibbs) and 'The Captain' (Penske) in the past."
Petty said of resurrecting Hornish to take over one of his two Cup cars from Ambrose: "He's a family man who fits well with our core values ... we feel that he can get the No. 9 team to Victory Lane and compete in 'The Chase' for us [something Ambrose has been unable to do]."
Picture courtesy of Freewheeling Daredevil/Wikimedia Commons
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Written byGeoffrey Harris
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