September 13, 2006
Hornish Strikes Gold: Fairy Tale Season Ends With Third Series Title
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MICHIGAN (September 13, 2006) - SMN client Sam Hornish, Jr. prevailed over Marlboro Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves as well as last year's IndyCar Racing League Champion Dan Wheldon and his Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon to win an unprecedented third IndyCar Series Championship title by driving to a third place finish in the PEAK Antifreeze Indy 300 at the Chicagoland Motor Speedway.
The 27-year-old Defiance, Ohio native, tied Wheldon in the overall points standings, but Hornish's dominating four wins this season allowed him to win the tiebreaker and claim the Series crown. Hornish drove the No. 6 Dallara/Honda/Firestone conservatively and with patience during the final race of the season. Entering this race in second place in the points standings, Hornish needed to finish in front of points leader Castroneves and claim third place at the end of the race to clinch the Championship - a game plan he executed perfectly.
"This is as excited as I've ever been," Hornish said. "It's been a great day for us and a great year. Winning the Indy 500 (in May) was the highlight of my career, but this is right close to it."
Not only does Hornish become the only driver in IRL history with three Series Championships under his belt, but he is the only driver to give Marlboro Team Penske and legendary team owner Roger Penske, their first IndyCar Racing League title ever.
"I didn't want him to get too racey out there," said Penske. "At the end, I told Sam, 'About 25 (laps) to go, you have to finish second or third. That's all you have to do.' The win wasn't what we came here for. We came here to win the championship."
A championship packed with highs and lows, 2006 will always be remembered as the Cinderella season to Hornish. Fighting his way through a rough start at the beginning of the season, redemption would be realized when Hornish's first win came at the 90th running of the Indianapolis 500. Overcoming a pit stop penalty which could have ended his quest for victory, he realized his life long dream to win the race by .0635 seconds in dramatic fashion over second place finisher Marco Andretti - the second closest finish in Indy 500 history. His next victories would come back-to-back; first at the Richmond International Speedway and second at the Kansas Speedway - on his 27th birthday. His final victory of the season would occur at the Kentucky Speedway.
"[I]t's just really been an unbelievable year for us. We came into this season and we've had some ups and downs. But, obviously the highlight of the year was winning the Indianapolis 500. That's the highlight of my career. It really catapulted us back into the points championship, the hunt. Then we just kind of continued on from there. We had some problems here and there, but kind of kept our composure about ourselves. Things worked out well."
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