<table> </table> After starting his major series racing career in the IndyCar Series, Sam Hornish Jr. had a choice: He could stay in that series, where he had won 19 races and three championships, or move to NASCAR.</p><p>He chose NASCAR.</p><p>&#8220;I did this for my own reasons,&#8221; Hornish said. &#8220;I wasn&#8217;t dissatisfied with the IRL. &#8230; I saw how much different it was and how difficult it was, and I wanted my own challenge.&#8221;</p><p>And challenge may be the right word to describe Hornish&#8217;s first full Sprint Cup season.</p><p>Entering Sunday&#8217;s Camping World RV 400, Hornish sits just 35th in the points standings.</p><p>&#8220;The car weighs more than twice as much, has 200 more horsepower, (has) smaller tires (and) less downforce,&#8221; Hornish said.</p><p>However, Hornish has had the most success of the former open-wheel drivers who entered the series in 2008. After failing to qualify for races and a fruitless search for a full-time sponsor, 2007 IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti&#8217;s team shut down, and former Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve attempted only one race before parting ways with Bill Davis Racing.</p><p>Many new drivers don&#8217;t have the safety blanket of being locked into the field, thanks to the rule that guarantees cars in the top 35 in owner points a spot, leaving those on the outside hanging their hopes on one or two laps.</p><p>Former Champ Car driver Patrick Carpentier, who drives the No. 10 for Gillett Evernham Motorsports, inherited a car that was outside of the top 35 at the beginning of the season, and missed the first two races &#8212; putting him in a hole that was almost impossible to dig out of.</p><p>&#8220;Oh no, it&#8217;s easy,&#8221; Carpentier said with a laugh before turning serious, &#8220;This is by far the toughest racing series I&#8217;ve ever entered. The cars are so hard to drive.&#8221;</p><p>Hornish did have one advantage over Carpentier. Team owner Roger Penske gave Hornish&#8217;s car the owner points from Kurt Busch, locking Hornish into the field for the first five races, a security that Carpentier has yet to experience.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m still nervous &#8230; I have only one lap here basically to (qualify),&#8221; Carpentier said. &#8220;It&#8217;s nerve-racking&#8221;</p><p>Also, the testing rules are different than they were when drivers such as Tony Stewart and John Andretti made the transition from open wheel to stock cars.</p><p>Now, with the exception of five open tests, teams can only test at tracks that the Cup series doesn&#8217;t race at, limiting the feedback and seat time that a driver can get.</p><p>&#8220;When Tony came in, you could test at any of the race tracks we raced at,&#8221; Hornish said. &#8220;Now we&#8217;re testing at Kentucky and Nashville.&#8221;</p><p>Hornish won at Kansas in 2006 in the IndyCar Series, so it would seem that he would have an advantage. Not so, because the open-wheel cars can basically go flat-out around the track.</p><p>&#8220;Yeah, but Michigan I never had any success at (in IndyCar), and that was one of the tracks I ran the best at (in Sprint Cup),&#8221; Hornish said.</p><p>&#8220;Here, it doesn&#8217;t matter how good you are (in the Cup series) you&#8217;re not flat-out. You could come here for a hundred days testing and you&#8217;ll never be flat-out.&#8221;</p><p>Even as Hornish was ready for a new challenge, he knew that the transition wasn&#8217;t going to be easy.</p><p>&#8220;It was either going to be the biggest mistake I made or the most gratifying thing I&#8217;ve ever done,&#8221; Hornish said.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think that &#8212; after doing it now &#8212; I don&#8217;t think that it will ever be a mistake.&#8221;</p><p>And while Hornish has some job security, Carpentier does not. Reed Sorenson was recently announced as the driver of the No.10 car in 2009, leaving Carpentier to look for a ride.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re waiting,&#8221; Carpentier said. &#8220;We&#8217;re working on a fourth team. I like this team, and I want to be here.&#8221;