Sam Hornish Jr. and No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Iowa Speedway Team Preview

Sam Hornish Jr.’s name will again be over the door of the Monster Energy Camry this week with Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) and the No. 54 team at Iowa Speedway in Newton. Hornish Jr. will have the wheel of the Monster Energy Toyota seven total times this season, two weeks ago on the high banks of Talladega where he scored fifth, this week and August 2 at Iowa Speedway, June 21 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI, July 19 at Chicagoland (Ill.) Speedway, August 6 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington and September 20 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta.

The 34-year-old’s NASCAR career consists of 130 starts in the Sprint Cup Series and 100 career starts in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) with two wins, 29 top-five finishes, 54 top-10 finishes and six poles recorded in the NNS. Last year alone, Hornish secured four pole positions, one win (Las Vegas, Nev., ’13), 16 top-five and 25 top-10 finishes en route to a second-place driver standing at season end, three points shy of a Nationwide Series championship. Hornish Jr. famously touts a strong career in the IndyCar Series where he has been champion three times (’06, ’02 and ’01) and collected 19 wins across eight race seasons, including the famed Indy 500 victory in 2006.

Crew Chef Adam Stevens is again looking forward to the opportunity with Hornish Jr., a Napolean, Ohio native. Stevens has led series regular Kyle Busch and team to two wins and nine top-five finishes of nine races run so far this season. The veteran NNS crew chief has yet to record a win on the 7/8th-mile oval set in the Iowa cornfields. Look for Stevens and Hornish Jr. to be contenders with their No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing team, all driven to bring home the checkered flag.

With a fifth-place finish in last week’s Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway event, the No. 54 Monster Energy team and owner J.D. Gibbs increased their first place lead in the series’ Owner’s Championship points, to 36. This week they look to maintain that lead with a successful run with last year’s Nationwide Series Championship runner up Sam Hornish Jr., who wants nothing more than to contribute to the strong performance this No. 54 Monster Energy team is trending in 2014.

KBM PR