Nascar and Racing Sam Hornish Jr

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (AP) -- Smoke loves it when the Glen heats up.

Tony Stewart won the rain-delayed NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen International on a steamy Monday, holding off Australian Marcos Ambrose over the final 25 laps for his Cup-record fifth victory at the famed road course.

"I love it when it gets slick," Stewart said. "I was watching him (Ambrose). I think we were stronger in the parts we needed to be and we never looked at the fuel."

Sam Hornish Jr. climbed out of his No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge Monday afternoon in Pocono, Pa., allowed himself to crack a smile and looked forward to receiving a call from his boss, Roger Penske.

Fourth place.

It wasn't exactly cause for celebration for Hornish, who owns three IndyCar championships and an Indianapolis 500 ring. But his hard-fought finish was a career best and gives him five top-10 Sprint Cup efforts.

It was progress.

Where: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Time: Sunday 2:00pm/EDT
TV/Radio: ESPN, IMS Radio Network
Twitter: Updates @ FanHouseRacing
Forecast: 82 degrees, Partly Cloudy
Distance: 160 laps (400 miles)
Pole Winner: Mark Martin
2008 Winner: Jimmie Johnson

INDIANAPOLIS -- He won the Indy 500 in 2006. So the question is, can he repeat that success this year in a stock car?

Sam Hornish Jr. joined FanHouse for a live chat from the Brickyard at Indy. Hornish discussed several topics, including how he likes his chances at Indy.

You can read the entire chat wrap after the jump.

Join FanHouse for a NASCAR "Chat with Champions" on Friday from the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, site of this week's AllState 400 at the Brickyard.

Jimmie Johnson, the three-time defending Sprint Cup champion and defending AllState 400 winner, will chat live at 11:15AM Friday, followed by 2006 Indianapolis 500 winner Sam Hornish Jr., at 12:15 PM ET.

Let's take a quick glance at some of the Richmond post-race storylines:

"We lost the brakes."

Jimmie Johnson, as Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway proved, isn't the racing robot with a switch stuck on "Dominate" we've come to think he is after three-straight Sprint Cup titles. Nope, not even at a track where he's won three of the last four events before Saturday night's race.

In fact, it was an all-around miserable night for the No. 48 after brake problems caused him to spin once, get caught up in another crash and then race the rest of the way with a damaged race car. Unfortunately for the rest of the competition, his 36th-place finish won't be a barometer of his 2009 season.

Roger Penske is the most successful team owner in Indy car history with driver Ryan Briscoe earning Penske's 139th victory two weeks ago in the IndyCar Series opener at St. Petersburg. Penske has won the Indy 500 a staggering 14 times. His NASCAR team has 63 victories, including the 2008 Daytona 500. His sports car team won the historic 12 Hours of Sebring last year.

Penske sat down in his motor coach for a wide-ranging interview on topics as diverse as what keeps him motivated to Danica Patrick's flirt with NASCAR to the future of his NASCAR driver Sam Hornish Jr.

Excerpts from my interview with Penske after the jump.

A huge wreck coming off of Turn 11 at Watkins Glen International Raceway put the Sprint Cup Series' Centurion Boats at the Glen under the red flag with just eight laps to go Sunday.

Nine cars were involved in the big crash that saw David Gililland and Bobby Labonte take some of the hardest hits the NASCAR world has seen at a road course in a long time. Labonte walked away from his car but will be transferred to a local hospital for further evaluation.

It seems that former-Indy 500 champion Sam Hornish Jr. might find his way back to the brickyard in May, despite his new career as a driver of the No. 77 Penske Racing Dodge in the Sprint Cup Series.

According to this report from the Sporting News, David Stremme is expected to sign on with Penske Racing as a test driver for the organization this week, leave a door open for Hornish to sneak back to the Indianapolis 500 in May if both he and team owner Roger Penske decide on it.

Penske's entry blank for the Indy 500 reportedly lists Helio Castroneves in the No. 3 car and Ryan Briscoe in the No. 6, but there's a big "TBA" beside the No. 77. It's all speculation at this point, but if Hornish should decide he'd rather run up front in the reunified IndyCar Series (he's a three-time IndyCar champion) than fight to stay on the lead lap in a stock car, Penske would have a test driver -- Stremme -- ready to fill the void.

I really should point out in this situation the use of the word "speculation". There's really nothing in this that states that this is a done deal.

Sam's definitely had some struggles this season in the Sprint Cup Series, and going off to race at Indy certainly wouldn't help that too much, but then again, Hornish will undoubtedly have a much better chance to win again there than he would at Charlotte in May.

Nearly 10 hours after the scheduled start of the Sprint Cup Auto Club 500, NASCAR officials finally ceded to the weather and track and decided the race on Monday.

It was Sunday night in California and Monday morning on the east coast when the postponement was declared just after 2:00am/ET.

Rain at the Auto Club Speedway had stopped much before that and most of the track indeed was dry. However, the battle that NASCAR and speedway officials have been battling all week with water seeping from the seams on the pavement reared its ugly head.

Before that, though, the action was exciting -- if not a tad unfair for some drivers.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., Casey Mears, Denny Hamlin, Reed Sorenson & Sam Hornish Jr. were caught up in wrecks less than 25 laps in to the event that appeared on television to be directly caused by the water seeping on to the track. Earnhardt Jr. was particularly unhappy about the race conditions.

Jimmie Johnson currently leads Travis Kvapil in the running order.

Monday promises to be a better day of racing -- if the seeping water can be corrected -- with a sunny day planned and a high of 67 degrees.

Tune in to FOX at 1pm/ET (10am/PT) to catch the resumption of the race from lap 87. The Nationwide Series race postponed from Saturday will be ran immediately in its entirety following that event on ESPN2.