Hornish expects better second year

Hornish first competed in NASCAR in 2006 in the Nationwide Series, after doing some IROC outings. However he only moved up to Cup level last year, and had a difficult season, losing his guaranteed starting spot for every race early in the year and then failing to qualify for two events.

The former IndyCar champion and Indianapolis 500 winner is hoping for a better 2009, when he expects the tough learning experience of last year to pay off.

"I'm definitely looking forward to 2009," said Hornish. "2008 was a tough year and I had a lot of accolades for me as far as getting used to the NASCAR schedule, being a first time father and having the time away from home that created for me, but being able to move forward with that into 2009 would be great.

"I've had an opportunity now to be at all the tracks that we're going to race at this year. Going to a place like Darlington for the first time or Bristol, those were things that made me a little bit nervous and took a little bit getting used to and probably created some problems for us down the road. But obviously I feel really fortunate to be at Penske Racing, to be able to come back and race this season."

The 29-year-old was linked with a return to IndyCars following the poor results of last year and Helio Castroneves' tax evasion scandal. However, he remains committed to NASCAR and doesn't regret having moved on from being a successful driver in open-wheel racing.

"I definitely knew what I was getting into," he said. "And the difficulty of it and as hard as it was, while a lot of other people probably would have turned around and said 'I don't want to do this', that's what drove me to do this.

"I wanted to push myself, I felt that if I didn't do it, if I just went back to the IndyCar world and did something I was a hundred percent comfortable with, that I would get to some point in time when I wished that I would've done this.

"I've said it all along, good or bad, however it turns out, at least I know what the answer is when it's over with."

Hornish will drive the No.77 Penske Dodge in 2009 and currently has to qualify through the Gatorade Duels for the season-opener at Daytona. However his team may switch the owner points with the No.2 of Kurt Busch as they did last year, to guarantee Hornish gets a start in the first five races of the season.