Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

Three-time IndyCar champ and 2006 Indianapolis 500 winner Sam Hornish Jr.’s NASCAR future remains in limbo, but his team owner, Roger Penske, said Thursday that he will likely field Hornish in the Daytona 500 and possibly in theIndianapolis 500, too.

Penske confirmed the news during a sponsorship announcement at his Ferrari dealership in the Wynn Las Vegas Thursday, where the team unveiled Kurt Busch’s new No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Dodge in the Sprint Cup Series and a similar design for the iconic No. 3 Penske car that three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves will drive at Indy next May.

For all his success in open-wheel racing, Hornish has never managed to make a big splash in NASCAR’s big leagues, with only a pair of top-five finishes and eight top-10 efforts in 108 starts over three full seasons. And with no primary sponsor signed for his No. 77 Dodge, Penske said Hornish still doesn’t have a full schedule set for 2011. Penske said both a limited Cup and Nationwide Series slate were possibilities.

“I told him that, at the end of the day, I’d much rather do a program where we can support you 100 percent than have some pick-up program with not enough sponsors,” Penske said. “We need to have the continuity. We have a number of opportunities, but we just couldn’t get them closed at this point.

“I really take full responsibility for the success he’s had, maybe the non-success.

“Coming in, I made a commitment to him we’d run the IndyCar side, win a championship and win the 500 and then go NASCAR racing and we did that.

“The problem is, you’re not allowed to test, you’ve got new cars. … Sam’s a helluva race driver and we’re gonna sort out what’s best for him as we move forward.”

By Holly Cain