by Lee Spencer

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There have been rumors of Hornish, 29, returning to the IRL IndyCar Series to replace Helio Castroneves who is facing charges of tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud the government. Hornish said the reports were "basically untrue."

Like most open wheel drivers, Hornish has struggled making the transition to stock cars. In 55 NASCAR starts, the driver of the No. 77 Dodge has just one top 10 finish in the Craftsman Truck Series. Hornish qualified for 33 of 34 races this season. His best finish was 13th in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in May. But overall his average finish is 29.5 — not exactly a record that's setting the world on fire.

"I'm focused on trying to be the best Sprint Cup driver I can be," Hornish said. "I came over because I wanted the challenge of doing this. I wanted to see it out. I wanted to get to the point where I felt like I could win races. We're not there yet but still working on it.

"I've said in the past that even if I have to step down and go to a good Nationwide ride to be able to get back here to try to get to the point where I can win Sprint Cup races I'm willing to do that before I'm going to give up and go back over and just do what's comfortable."

Unlike Dario Franchitti, who lasted 10 races in Cup after his development was hampered by a vicious crash at Talladega, Hornish is hoping to defy the average open wheeler odds. The former IRL champ and Indianapolis 500 winner believes his breakthrough is on the horizon.

"When I got an opportunity to come over here and see how different it was, exactly how much harder it could be, just because I didn't spend the 15 years, the last years of my life trying to be a stock car driver," Hornish said. "I'd spent it all on open wheel cars and trying to learn this. I feel like I learn something new every day and I feel like there's going to be a great amount of satisfaction if I get to the point where I feel like I can win.

"I want to get to the point where I have that satisfaction. I don't want to feel like I had to go back and do something just to be able to say that it was easy or I knew that I could go back over and win."

There have certainly been growing pains for Hornish, who dabbled in 13 stock car races before beginning the rookie process at Daytona in February. Hornish's initial crew chief Chris Carrier was relieved of his duties before Bristol in August and replaced with Travis Geisler, who had never crewed a Cup car before he was assigned to the No. 77. Hornish is currently 35th in the point standings, a position marred by four DNFs.

When one popular veteran who was knocked out of contention by Hornish in the early laps of a race was asked, "Could anything be done to help the freshman's switch to stock cars?" He answered wryly, "Yeah, taillights and a blinker." There's no doubt that the yellow stripe on Hornish's bumper has been there for a reason this year.

How would Hornish describe the learning process?

"I would say it's a struggle but I remember when I first started racing I ran a dirt oval and won I think the third race out and then I won five of the next six," Hornish said. "My dad decided he wanted us to go and try running some asphalt road-course stuff because he thought that that was the next challenge for me. I remember about the first five or six races I didn't finish on the lead lap and for go-kart sprint races that's saying something to not finish on the lead lap. Then when we got to the point to win there we started doing the national stuff. It was always about moving up and doing something bigger.

"I've had a lot of struggles in my career, just didn't have so many of 'em when I was running in the Indy cars."

On the other end of the rookie battle, Smith, 25, had a more traditional motorsports upbringing with go-karts, Allison Legacy Series and Hooters Pro Cup. He enjoyed the luxury of five years of NASCAR exposure before moving full-time to Cup this season. He also had veteran Mark Martin mentor him along the way. But despite the investment Dale Earnhardt Inc. put into Smith's program, the results have made for a hard sell to sponsors.

If he had been declared the rightful winner at Talladega, the question of winning rookie honors or where or if he'd be racing next year might be moot. Instead, Smith is currently 34th in the point standings. He has qualified for all 32 events he entered (DEI opted to run Ron Fellows on road courses) and has not scored a single DNF.

"I think it has a big affect on that, based on the point system," Smith said. "It would put us in a five-point lead or something like that right now with those points so it's had a big affect on it. Unfortunately, we don't have those points and I don't know that you can look back at it and say well, coulda, shoulda, woulda.

"We haven't capitalized on opportunities that we've had to get the rookie points and we need to do a better job on that."

Despite the uncertainty of both his future and DEI, Smith remains positive and upbeat. He has known since August that in absence of a sponsor, he was free to pursue other opportunities and is optimistic a seat will open up in 2009.

"There is a lot of concern and curiosity on my part just because it affects what I'm going to be doing next year, one way or another," Smith said. "I still don't know where I'm going to be and if I'm going to be back at DEI or not or if it's going to be a Ganassi team or not or what's going to happen with it. There's all kinds of rumors out there. I've had a lot of good talks with other teams and feel confident that I'll be in one of those seats that are open come next year.

"This is the series that I want to be in, this is the series that I feel like I need to be in. If you sit down and look at the 35 best drivers out there this year I feel like I'm one of them and would think that that would lead me into a ride next year and obviously the second year always gets better for rookies."