Without a NASCAR ride of any kind, Sam Hornish Jr. planned to spend Father’s Day at the lake jet skiing with his family. Then on Monday a call came from Joe Gibbs Racing asking if Hornish was available to drive in Sunday’s Xfinity Series race at Iowa Speedway.
Sam Hornish Jr. comes through in super sub role, wins Xfinity Series race at Iowa Speedway
In a race he didn’t know he’d be competing in until just days before, Hornish scored an emotional victory his whole family could enjoy.
Excited about the opportunity, Hornish readily accepted the offer only to realize something: He should have checked first with his wife. His fears were unwarranted, though; Crystal Hornish actually shrieked with happiness when her husband informed her why they would need to break their plans.
Crystal’s willingness to be flexible and the fortuitous set of circumstances paid dividends as Hornish, driving JGR’s No. 18 in place of Matt Tifft -- who had a disc condition in his back and was advised by doctors to sit the weekend out -- won on Sunday, snapping a two-year winless streak.
“When you’ve got a car that drives this good man, it was just a breeze today,” Hornish said. “Could settle in and do what we needed to do.”
For Hornish, Iowa represented his first NASCAR race since the conclusion of the 2015 Sprint Cup season last November, a span of 210 days. That marked his final race with Richard Petty Motorsports and when nothing else materialized, Hornish took to substitute teaching at his daughters’ school.
But despite enjoying time with his family and saying he was content with how his once burgeoning career had quietly diminished, the 2006 Indianapolis 500 winner wasn’t completely ready to give up on racing. That chance, however, needed to be with a competitive team and not like the organizations Hornish too frequently had driven for during his star-crossed time spent in NASCAR.
“A lot of people told me, ‘Are you mad about where you’re at?‘ And I said, ‘No, I’m getting to spend a whole lot of time with my wife and kids and do things with them that I hadn’t got to do,’” Hornish said. “If I get the right opportunity I’ll go out there and I’ll prove it was the right thing to do to wait.”
He proved that to be true on Sunday. After battling with teammate Daniel Suarez early, Hornish took control over the second half and was never seriously challenged, leading 183 of 250 laps. It was a rather flawless dominating performance, even if Hornish admitted later he needed to knock some rust off.
“I was so nervous on Friday getting into the car thinking I’m going to make a mistake,” he said.
What’s next for Hornish is largely unknown. He only has two races scheduled -- Xfinity events at Kentucky Speedway next month and at Iowa in August, both with Richard Childress Racing. Ideally, he’d like to avoid being an 11th-hour substitute and find a permanent ride somewhere. But with nothing forthcoming, Hornish’s immediate plans call for a resumption of quality time with Crystal and his three young children (daughters Addison and Eliza and son Sam III).
In the meantime, Hornish can take solace in the fact he got to create a memorable Father’s Day moment; an emotional one for him, an exciting one for the kids. Because as their dad drove into victory lane, Addison and Eliza skipped to join him gleefully saying, “Daddy won! Daddy won.”
“It doesn’t get much better than that,” Hornish said. “It’s the first time the kids got to be here for one of dad’s wins. I can’t tell you what this means to me. You work so hard to try to get a win when I had my kids here.
“Happy Father’s Day to everybody. This is definitely one of the best ones I’ve ever had I can guarantee you that.”
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