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]] race at Texas Motor Speedway ]]Sam Hornish, Jr. (born July 2 , 1979 in Bryan, Ohio ) is an American race car driver and Indianapolis 500 champion, currently driving in the Indy Racing League and the NASCAR Busch Series for Penske Racing . He also competes in the invitation-only International Race Of Champions . He first raced in the IRL in 2000 with the PDM Racing team, with a best finish of third. However, he switched to Panther Racing for the next season and improved enough to take the title from reigning champion Buddy Lazier . In 2002 the Penske team switched from Champ Car , and Sam was able to beat their top driver Hélio Castroneves to his second title. Along the way, Hornish beat Al Unser, Jr. by .0024 of a second in the Delphi Indy 300 in Chicago, thought to be the closest auto race in history. In 2003, most of the established top US open-wheel teams were now racing in the series, with Honda and Toyota providing engines superior to the established Chevrolet unit Panther used. As a result, Cosworth was called in to supply a replacement engine informally dubbed the "Chevworth", with which Sam was a winner again, finishing 5th in the 2003 standings. For 2004 he moved to Penske, winning the season-opener but finding that Honda engines, and not Penske's Toyotas, were now the engine of choice. 2005 was an improvement, as he finished third to Dan Wheldon and Tony Kanaan in the standings and the top placement of any driver not driving for Andretti Green Racing . On May 28 , 2006 , after starting on the Pole for the 2006 Indianapolis 500 , Hornish became the first driver to ever overtake for the lead on the race's final lap, ultimately winning the race in the last 300 yards by a 0.0635-second margin over rookie Marco Andretti . Also in that year, he won the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 's Scott Brayton Award, awarded annually to the driver best exemplifying a spirit of tenacity as well as friendliness amongst the race's participants. Hornish went on to win the 2006 IRL championship in the final race of the season by a tiebreaker over defending champ Dan Wheldon. He became the first 3-time champion in IRL history. He also has the most IRL wins of any driver with 19. On October 28 , 2006 , Hornish announced that he will attempt to run the final two 2006 NASCAR Busch Series races for Penske Racing , as well as select events in 2007 He married his longtime girlfriend Crystal Liechty in 2004 . Hornish is a 1998 graduate of Archbold High School in Archbold, Ohio , and now resides in Napoleon . CAREER HIGHLIGHTS 2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
Early career
Firsts
CAREER RESULTS Indycar (Races in Bold indicate pole position)
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