Hornish scores best NASCAR result

The Penske driver ran out of sequence from the leaders in the closing stages of the race and his strategy allowed him to move up to third place when the eighth caution of the day came out with 35 laps remaining.

He ran as high as second by the time the last restart came, but lost out into turn one while trying to fend off attacks from Kasey Kahne and Juan Pablo Montoya. In the end he was able to keep Kahne - who had been a contender for victory - on his rear-view mirrors until the chequered flag.

"It was a pretty good one today," Hornish said. "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.

Although Hornish has scored already five top-ten finishes this year, overall it has been a tough season for the former IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500 champion who currently ranks 27th in the drivers' standings.

He feels Monday's result a Pocono comes as a major boost for the team in what is their second season together in NASCAR's top series.

"It sure is," said Hornish. "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."