Sam Hornish to drive Richard Petty Motorsports No. 9 in 2015

Nick Bromberg
·College football and motorsports writer
Sam Hornish to drive Richard Petty Motorsports No. 9 in 2015

Richard Petty Motorsports has found Marcos Ambrose's replacement.

The team announced Wednesday that Sam Hornish Jr. would drive for the team in 2015. He'll be in the No. 9 car and be teammates with Aric Almirola, who made the 2014 Chase for the Sprint Cup after winning at Daytona in July.

It's Hornish's second full-time stint in the Sprint Cup Series. He drove full-time for Team Penske from 2008-2010 until his No. 77 team was disbanded. Since then, he's driven part-time in the series and drove 20 races in 2012 for Penske after A.J. Allmendinger was suspended for a positive drug test.

"I've worked four years to get back to this point and I feel like I've come a long way," Hornish said. "I've found my voice, really, as far as what you need to have as far as a Cup driver is concerned ... trying to help steer organizations and I feel like when I look at it, the guys at Richard Petty Motorsports, it's kind of like a small ship. It's easier to turn. They've got a lot of things heading in a really good direction. Their assocation with Roush-Yates, as far as horsepower and Ford Racing and Roush with the chassis."

He drove full-time in the Nationwide Series in 2012 and 2013 for Penske but the team didn't have a spot for him in 2014, so Hornish moved on to a part-time gig at Joe Gibbs Racing in the Nationwide Series. He said he's more prepared for full-time ride at this point in his career than he was when he first came to Team Penske's Sprint Cup Series operation from running in the IndyCar Series or even when he lost his ride at the end of 2010.

"At the end of 2010, I don't know that if it would have been beneficial for me to have a full-time Cup ride in 2011," Hornish said. "Because I had worked so hard to try to keep my head above water and I really wasn't in a good spot as far as confidence goes. I had taken quite a few lumps and had always tryied to work on the things. And I always thought there was light at the end of the tunnel, but sometimes you don't know if that's a train or not."

"And I feel like having 2011, while it was a big hit and only did a few races here and there, it really gave me an opportunity to do a lot of testing which I had never gotten that opportunity up until that point, and also to run some Nationwide races and to have a good competitive team and crew chief to get myself an opportunity to win races and it just was a huge confidence builder."

Hornish won his first NASCAR race in 2011 at Phoenix in the Nationwide Series and finished second in the points standings in 2013. He has three career Nationwide Series wins, including one this season at Iowa Speedway.

He filled in for Denny Hamlin at California in the Sprint Cup Series this spring and finished 17th. RPM said it was a multi-year deal for Hornish, though the team is still looking for sponsorship. It has partial sponsorship from Twisted Tea for 2015 currently lined up. 2014 sponsors Stanley and DeWalt are moving to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2015.

Ambrose is leaving the team at the end of the season to return to his native Australia and race V8 Supercars, the series he excelled in before coming to NASCAR. (Coincidentally, he'll be driving for a team that Penske is a partner in.) Ambrose is currently 23rd in the Sprint Cup standings.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!