This week the No. 54 Monster Energy seat will see, for the sixth time this year, 35-year-old Sam Hornish Jr. in the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) winning Camry. Hornish, a NASCAR Nationwide Series veteran, along with the four-time 2014 JGR winners, look forward to driving in week 22 running the Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200, only the second Nationwide Series event at the 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington.
With a strong second-place finish last week at Watkins Glen (N.Y) International, with team driver Kyle Busch, the Monster Energy unit and owner J.D. Gibbs maintain first place in the series’ Owner’s Championship. This week they look to extend that lead with the help of Hornish, who is eager to continue momentum started with this team in Elkhart Lake’s (Wisc.) Road America event in June, where he paced the fastest lap times in practice, qualified fourth, and led a race-high 25 laps before inclement weather affected his race, resulting in a 12th-place finish.
In the inaugural Mid-Ohio event in 2013, with previous team Penske Racing, Hornish was strong when he started eighth, led the field for three laps and finished in third place. During that event the now Joe Gibbs Racing driver scored highest among active drivers in number of fastest laps (11, 15.9%), percentage of quality passes (63.9), number of laps in the top 15 (94, 100%), average mid-race position (3.0), fastest driver late in a run (93.975 mph) and green flag speed (94.008 mph). Additionally, Hornish ranked second highest among active drivers in driver rating (120.2), running position (average finish 3.0), fastest restarts (90.706 mph), number of laps led (3, 3.2%) and fastest speed in traffic (93.211 mph).
This week he looks to improve on those statistics and bring home his second trophy of the year with this No. 54 team. With a home in Defiance, Ohio, Hornish wants nothing more than to make the victory lane visit in his ‘backyard’ among family and friends.
KBM PR
