Motorsports

Speed reading

By BRANT JAMES
Published September 2, 2006

SPEED READING 

Team Penske has conceded that two-time Indy Racing League champion and defending Indianapolis 500 winner Sam Hornish is being prepared to test his skills in stock cars. Hornish, 27, would compete in selected Busch Series and ARCA races in conjunction with his IRL schedule next year. He told the Times in July that his motivation for switching to NASCAR would be to become the first to win the Indy 500 and Brickyard 400. Ganassi Racing's Juan Pablo Montoya, who won the 2000 Indy 500, begins his quest when he replaces Casey Mears in the No. 42 Dodge next season. "Really, we've looked at (NASCAR) from day one with Sam," said Penske Performance president Tim Cindric, who oversees the IRL and NASCAR operations. "There's no secret when he was with Panther (Racing), he was trying to figure out where to go next, that he was considering the NASCAR world. That never went away. We said, 'At the right time, let us know if you feel like trying it, or whatever.' Time might be right to give him a shot . . . sometime in the next, whatever, six months, year, whatever it might be."

700 CLUB: Sterling Marlin, 49, will be the 11th driver to amass 700 starts at NASCAR's top level on Sunday at California Speedway. The Columbia, Tenn., native's first came May 8, 1976, replacing his injured father, Clifton "Coo Coo" Marlin at Nashville Speedway. He has 10 wins, 83 top fives, 216 top 10s and more than $39-million in purses. He joins Richard Petty (1,185), Dave Marcis (883), Ricky Rudd (875), Terry Labonte (844), Darrell Waltrip (809), Kyle Petty (773), Bill Elliott (751), Bobby Allison (719), Rusty Wallace (706) and Buddy Baker (701).

ROUGH ROAD: Obvious observation of the week: It's dangerous being a NASCAR over-the-wall crew member. Andy Brown, a 23-year-old rear tire carrier for Kurt Busch's No. 2 Dodge team "felt something pop" during a Lap 238 pit stop under caution at Bristol on Saturday, but helped make two more changes soon after. "Getting back out there Saturday night might not have been a good idea," Brown said. "I've been in to have my knee drained and they're doing tests to see if I've done any ACL damage." Brown is not expected to travel to California.

TOUCHDOWN DRIVE: Kyle Busch is from Las Vegas, so he should know how to put his money where his mouth is when it comes to college football. He likely won't get very good odds with his rock-solid lock of the opening weekend: Michigan 28, Vanderbilt 14. "I like Michigan," he said. "When my brother (Kurt) first started racing for Roush, he was in Michigan . . . and sent me a Wolverines sweatshirt. So, I started following the team and have become a pretty big fan. Their first game is this weekend. I don't think they'll have any problem beating Vanderbilt, especially since the game is in Ann Arbor."

[Last modified September 2, 2006, 02:26:43]