INDIANAPOLIS -- As a 12-year-old racing go-karts in the Midwest, Sam Hornish Jr. had a dream that would foretell his future as a race car driver.

"I had a dream one night about Roger [Penske] and Rick Mears," Hornish laughed. "I was washing trucks for my mom and dad after school at the time. They came while I was at work and wanted me to come race for them."

When he woke up, the driver from Defiance, Ohio, said he thought, "Yeah right, like that was ever going to happen. And then 10 years later I was sitting there having a meeting with Roger talking about going racing for him. It's pretty neat how things change sometimes."

And change they have for the three-time IndyCar Series champion and Indianapolis 500 winner, who is now a second-year driver in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series preparing to make his second start in a stock car at the famous Brickyard.

Walking through the garage area of the Indianapolis track as an Indy 500 winner, Hornish appeared larger than life to the open-wheel fans and Indy loyalist.

In the Cup garage, however, he's just another driver trying to prove himself.

"There's a lot for me to continue to learn," Hornish explained on Friday. "That's why I wanted to do this whole thing. I had an opportunity to come to a team that would support me, even if things didn't go as well as we wanted them to the first year. I knew it was going to be difficult but that is why I wanted to do it."

Patience with Hornish has paid off this season. He is the second most-improved driver behind teammate Kurt Busch in terms of Driver Rating. This season, Hornish has an average running position of 22.5. He has run 24 percent of his laps inside the top 15. And it's all resulted in four top-10 finishes so far this season.

"The team continues to grow, and as we do I feel like we have better and better chances to win," Hornish said. "I feel like I have a great opportunity to go out there and run well this weekend."

Hornish and Indy 500 winner Juan Montoya are the only drivers who could win both the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard and the Indy 500.

"That's part of the reason that I decided to come over here and do this," Hornish said. "My main goal was to come over and run the Daytona 500. I wanted to run the Brickyard 400. Now that I've run three of the biggest sporting events in the world as far as racing is concerned, I want to try and take care of winning three of them." (Continued)