RPM signs Sam Hornish Jr. to drive No. 9 car next season
Richard Petty Motorsports announced on Wednesday morning that the team has signed Sam Hornish Jr. to drive the No. 9 car in the Sprint Cup Series starting next season.
He'll be replacing current driver Marcos Ambrose, who is heading back to his native country of Australia to drive V8 Supercars for Team Penske.
We're happy to welcome, @SamHornish to the RPM family! http://t.co/pbdmRBUk8c pic.twitter.com/lynePPQVIB
— RPMotorsports (@RPMotorsports) October 8, 2014
It will be Hornish’s second stint in the Sprint Cup Series. His last full-time Cup season was in 2010 for Team Penske. During that year, Hornish’s best result was a 10th place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
“I feel like I’m a lot better prepared this time around,” Hornish Jr. said during the morning conference call. "I've worked four years to get to this point, and I feel like I've come a long way."
The team confirmed that Drew Blickensderfer will remain crew chief of the No. 9 team next season.
RPM will now focus on finding sponsors for next year's Cup season. Ambrose's current main sponsor Stanley Tools announced last month that it will move over to Joe Gibbs Racing to sponsor both Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth.