Medallion Bank Returns to the No. 9 Ford
This weekend, Sam Hornish Jr. and the No. 9 Medallion Bank Ford team return to a superspeedway for the first time since the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway. So far, Hornish earned his best finish of the season, 12th, in Daytona earlier this year.
As an organization, Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) has one win, five Top-Five and 12 Top-10 finishes on Superspeedways since 2009. Last year, Hornish’s teammate, Aric Almirola, won the July race at Daytona.
Hornish has six Cup Series starts at Talladega Superspeedway and earned his best finish of 15th in the fall of 2010. He also has four starts in the XFINITY Series at the 2.66-mile track, with an average finish of 13.8. Last year, Hornish won the pole and earned his best finish of fifth in the series. While Hornish knows there are no guarantees at Talladega, he’s hoping to put himself at the right place, at the right time to top his best finish of the season.
“One thing I know for sure is that the RPM cars, and the Fords in general, are good on restrictor-plate tracks. Talladega is a little bit different than Daytona; it’s wider and there’s a little bit more room to run there. Saying that though, we ran three-wide, 10 rows deep quite a bit at Daytona on an 85 degree day, so when we get to Talladega where it typically tends to be a little bit cooler, who knows what will happen. Maybe we’ll have four-wide racing, seven rows deep, but it’s going to be exciting that’s for sure.
“There’s a lot of luck that comes into play at Superspeedways, and a lot of things can happen that are completely out of your control. The last time I ran at Talladega in the Cup Series, I was the first car on the outside line going through the middle of Turns Three and Four coming to the checkered flag and was thinking to myself, ‘Finally, I got myself exactly where I need to be.’, about that time Tony Stewart came upside across the field, and we got wrecked and ended up 24th. Even though you’re less than a mile away from the finish line and exactly where you want to be, it doesn’t mean anything.”
No. 9 Medallion Bank Ford
A performance and marketing driven company, Richard Petty Motorsports, co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty and successful business entrepreneur Andrew Murstein, is one of the most recognized brands in all of motorsports. With a history of over 200 wins and business partnerships with national and global leaders, today the race operation fields two teams in competition in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Aric Almirola pilots the famous No. 43 Ford Fusion with primary partners Smithfield Foods, U.S. Air Force, STP and Fresh From Florida, and Sam Hornish Jr. drives the No. 9 machine with primary partners Medallion Bank and Twisted Tea. In addition, Dakoda Armstrong wheels the No. 43 WinField Ford Mustang full-time in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. The team is headquartered in Mooresville, N.C.
