Sam Hornish Jr. has a long history with Rockingham Speedway and he returned to the track Thursday along with Penske Racing teammate David Stremme.

The pair were testing their vehicles for the NASCAR Sprint Cup event in Martinsville, Va. on March 29.

Hornish Jr. first visited “The Rock” when he was an 11-year-old driver in a go-kart racing in the World Karting Association’s U.S. Grand Nationals. He remembers the race and how poorly he raced that day.

“I think I finished like two laps behind the winner, which doesn’t really happen in go-karts,” Hornish Jr. said.

Despite his poor showing in his first race at the track, Hornish Jr. rebounded to take the checkered flag in a number of races at “The Rock.” And at 15, would win the World Karting Association’s U.S. Grand National Championship.

Hornish Jr. ultimately moved up to race in the IndyCar Series when he was just 21 and captured the series championship for Panther Racing that season. He followed up with his second consecutive IndyCar Series Championship the following year.

After joining Penske Racing in 2004, Hornish Jr. won the 2006 Indianapolis 500 when he passed Marco Andretti in the final lap for his signature win as a professional driver and propelled him to his third IndyCar Series title.

During the 2007 season, Hornish Jr. began dividing his time between defending his IndyCar Series championship and limited Nationwide and Sprint Cup races. At the end of the 2007, he made the jump to NASCAR full-time.

“It was logical for me to move,” Hornish Jr. said. “People ask me all the time about making the change, the biggest change for me was the schedule. It’s twice as long, but I love to race.”

While Hornish Jr. is accustomed to heading to Victory Lane after races at every stop he has made, he is still attempting to get used to the move from open wheel racing to stock cars.

“I spent 12 years racing open wheel before anybody even heard of me,” he said. “We have had some really good races, but my inexperience hurt us. And we ran into some bad luck.

“In Michigan (last year) we should have had a top 10 (finish). We were running good in Vegas, we stopped for fuel and then a yellow came out and we fell a lap behind.”

Hornish Jr. acknowledges the competition in NASCAR is better than what he faced while on the IndyCar circuit. But he also understands with the resources of a Penske team he has to perform better.

“In the Indy Series, there were five or six guys if they won, it wouldn’t surprise anyone,” Hornish Jr. said. “But here, there are 20 guys it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see them win. And if the right breaks happen, than 35 guys could win a race.

“I know David and I aren’t where we want to be right now. There are only three guys on my crew that are older than me (29), so we are a very young team.”