With Marcos Ambrose opting to return to Australia to rave V8 Supercars, the seat of the No. 9 Ford Fusion at Richard Petty Motorsports is vacant.
Ambrose, 38, won two races at Watkins Glen during his Sprint Cup Series career but was never able to put his car in victory lane on an oval and failed to qualify for the Chase during his six full seasons at the Cup level.
The departure of Ambrose will open up an opportunity for someone else at the Cup level. That opportunity may go to Sam Hornish Jr. who has been running a part-time schedule in the Nationwide Series for Joe Gibbs Racing in the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry.
MRN is the latest to get on the rumored move to RPM by Hornish.
The former IndyCar champion was rushed to the Sprint Cup level by Penske Racing when he first joined NASCAR. He never produced at the level and over 131 starts dating back to 2007 has just three top-fives and nine top-ten finishes.
Since his full-time Cup ride with Penske ended in 2010, Hornish has primarily been running in the Nationwide Series. Though he did make 20 starts filling in for AJ Allmendinger during the 2012 season. Hornish has scored three Nationwide Series wins in 107 starts, including a win at Iowa this season.
