Staying Put?; Sam Hornish Jr. will stay in the IRL, but maybe not for long.(Indy Racing League champion may sign NASCAR contract)(Brief Article)

No one is saying Sam Hornish Jr. is the next Tony Stewart, although he's on Stewart's path. Hornish, an Indy Racing League champion like Stewart, is expected to sign a NASCAR contract sometime this month. Details have not yet been finalized, but he'll probably run a couple of races next season for Dale Earnhardt Inc., maybe even the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400.

If Hornish performs as well in NASCAR as he did in his first International Race of Champions event at Daytona in February (second to Stewart, of all people), he might end up finding stock car racing an even bigger part of his life. Just how big? Only time, results and contract extension negotiations with Panther Racing of the IRL will tell.

``I'd like to stay with [Panther] for the next 10 years. It might not work out that way, but that's what I want,'' Hornish said before winning the IRL's race at Richmond. ``There are a lot of things to consider. There's the money, the extra time on the road... but I'd like to run Daytona. I've always wanted to run Daytona. We'll have to see where it goes.''

It is clear, however, that Hornish, a 23-year-old Defiance, Ohio, resident, will be in the IRL with Panther full time in 2003. His original three-year contract with the Indianapolis-based team does not allow an escape clause. Panther exercised its option to keep him for year three in January, and they are in the secondary stages of signing an extension for 2004 and 2005.

Hornish saw the first version of Panther's contract offer in May, just as practice for his third Indianapolis 500 was beginning. The stress of settling his future beyond his 26th birthday caused him to squirm, and he asked agent John Capinegro and team general manager John Barnes to give him some breathing room through the 500.

Now, the 2001 IRL champ is ready to dip his toes in NASCAR's competitive waters, at least to test the temperature. Besides, it sounds like fun, especially with a team as experienced and as strong at Daytona as DEI (two wins in the past three events). Ty Norris, DEI's executive vice president of motorsports, said the team will finalize its plans for next year within ``two or three weeks,'' but Norris couldn't hide his enthusiasm for putting the IRL phenom in a stock car ASAP. ``[It's] something we definitely want to do if we can get the details worked out,'' he said.

Hornish said the NASCAR contract doesn't have a lot to do with Pennzoil, which sponsors ...