Posted on
March 11, 2013 by
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Sam Hornish, Jr. drove the No. 12 Würth Ford Mustang to victory on Saturday– streaking away from Kyle Busch in the final laps to capture the checkered flag in the Sam’s Town 300. The win was Sam’s second in the Nationwide Series after leading 114 laps out of 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
It apparently wasn’t until the day of the race that he realized the connection between his name and the title sponsorship. “It feels great to win here,” said Hornish, “I just realized this morning at the driver’s meeting that this was the Sam’s Town 300, and I thought this would be a good one to win because my name is already on the trophy.”
The No. 12 Würth Ford Mustang showed strength and speed all afternoon, as Sam was able to drive from fourth to first on three separate occasions during restarts. “We had a dominant car all day long. After the third lap of practice, I knew we had a pretty good Ford Mustang. We made some minor adjustments throughout practice, and a little bit for the race and the car was great.”
The win was also the first victory of the season for a Penske Ford. “The last time I had a car that good was probably in the 2008 All-Star race. We did have a really good Würth car last year at Charlotte in the Nationwide Series race, but we didn’t get to race it. We made it about two laps in the race before we had a miscommunication between the spotter and me and ended up wrecked. I felt as good about that car in practice as I did this one. After patching it up we ran top five times with the replacement radiator and a lot of tape, but the car we had today was pretty special.”
Leaving Las Vegas, Sam Hornish, Jr. and the No. 12 Würth Ford Mustang now own a 19-point Nationwide Series lead over the second place competitors. This is the third consecutive top-10 and the second top-five performance for Sam through three races this season. He looks to continue this early success next week in Bristol.
Brad Keselowski, Sprint Cup Series driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion, placed third after starting in pole position when rain washed out the Friday qualifying session. Keselowski secured his third-consecutive top-five finish this season, bringing him up to second in the series standings, only five points behind Jimmie Johnson.
In other racing news, Grant Enfinger, driver of the #90 Ford Fusion in the ARCA Series presented by Menards, took home his first victory this weekend at Mobile International Speedway. An Alabama native, Enfinger celebrated with family and friends after leading 165 laps of the race and having the strongest restarts in the field. “This is by far the best car I have ever brought to a short track and I can’t thank Howard Bixman and Team BCR enough for that,” Enfinger said.
“I have been working with Grant for that first win off and on over the last three years now,” says Team Manager/Crew Chief, Howard Bixman. “This was a well overdue and a deserved win we have both been waiting for. The staff at Team BCR works incredibly hard to get these cars out front and this was shown at Mobile yesterday. This is a small company and to get our first win with Grant was just incredible for our group. I’m very grateful to our entire staff for working so hard and putting in the long hours.”
Enfinger will be running the #90 Ford Fusion for the remainder of the 2013 ARCA Racing season. Würth USA has been a product sponsor for Grant Enfinger and Team BCR in the ARCA Racing Series since 2012.
Brad Keselowski started his day yesterday by Tweeting: “Moved on from last few weeks and ready to focus on @tootoughtotame #goodmorning”. Coming off two poor performances in Richmond and Talladega, where he finished 33rd and 15th respectively, Brad has fallen to 5th in the Sprint Cup standings. See if Brad can bounce back and return to Championship form in the Bonjangles’ Southern 500.
