CUP: Hornish Snares Fourth

Sprint Cup

CUP: Hornish Snares Fourth

Penske Racing's Sam Hornish Jr. snares career-best fourth-place finish...

SceneDaily.com | Posted August 03, 2009 Long Pond, PA

Sam Hornish Jr. posted his highest Sprint Cup finish at Pocono Raceway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Penske Racing's Sam Hornish Jr. utilized pit strategy to grab his best career NASCAR Sprint Cup finish in Monday's rain-delayed Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway.

Sam Hornish Jr STATS

Hornish stayed on the track when all but a handful of drivers pitted on lap 143 following the race's fifth caution, restarting fourth. He was then out of sequence from most of the leaders and was able to benefit from that once more on lap 166.

After that, Hornish raced hard and held on for his fourth-place finish, his best this season and best of his two-year Cup career.

"It was a pretty good one today," Hornish said of the race. "We didn't have a good car all day. We were pretty good starting out and then we got really loose in the middle portion and kind of ran out of things to try. We tried to get some track position [with pit strategy]. We were able to hold on and took a car that was probably a 15th-place car at the end and got us up to fourth.

"I'm just really happy. It was a lot of fun going out there and racing today. The closer you get up to the front, the more fun it is."

Hornish bounced around among the leaders on the final restart as cars made contact battling for position, but held on for the top finish.

In a season when the team had enjoyed four top-10 finishes entering the race but was 29th in the standings entering it, races like this are quite a confidence boost. Not only did Hornish earn his best finish, but he gained two spots to 27th in the drivers standings.

SPRINT CUP SERIES DRIVER POINT STANDINGS

"It sure is," he said when asked if this provided his team with a confidence boost. "We've had a lot of ups-and-downs this year and it kind of stays with our streak so far. I finish in the top 10 or have a bad day. We need to get a little bit of that middle ground.

"We took what we had today and got a little bit more out of it than what the car was worth, so that's always good."

SceneDaily.com • Pit gamble pays off with third-place finish for RCRs Clint Bowyer at Pocono