Hornish made appearances at a couple of local Sprint stores yesterday in advance of an Indy Racing League event Sunday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington. Most NASCAR fans know that the Nextel Cup series will be renamed the Sprint Cup next year and that Hornish, who already has won three IRL titles, is considering a move to the top stock car circuit.

So, was he getting a head start on the promotional side of things?

"It's phone trouble," Hornish said as he sat down for a quick lunch at the Buckeye Hall of Fame Café. "It keeps cutting out."

Hornish refuted the prevailing rumor that he already has made up his mind and that owner Roger Penske will add a third car to his NASCAR team next year for Hornish.

"I'd say where I'm at right now, the scales are 50-50," said Hornish, of Defiance, Ohio. "I haven't made any decision; the team hasn't made a decision.

"We started off this year knowing we were going to run 11 to 14 stock car races (in the Busch series, ARCA and possibly a couple of Nextel Cup events) and run the full Indy car schedule. We aren't going to be close to making a decision until we are done with all of that for the year."

Penske said about the same thing to ESPN.com earlier this month.

"We've not come to the junction where we say, 'Hey, what are we going to do?' " Penske said. "We've just said, 'Let's leave it and not make a decision and let things play out.' "

If critics want to help sway Hornish, all they need to do is point out his lack of success in eight stock car races he has run.

"I hate that, that people say I can't do it just because of the results we've had so far, when we don't go test, we're not racing over there every weekend," Hornish said.

His critics used to point to his lack of success on IRL road courses. His second-place finish two weeks ago at Watkins Glen, N.Y., showed he has made tremendous strides.

"The part that keeps me interested in Indy car racing is the chance of winning the Indianapolis 500 again, and being competitive on the road courses," Hornish said. "The thing that excites me about (a possible NASCAR move) is being able to find out whether I can get to the point where I can win. Can I get to the point where I can win championships? Can I win the Brickyard 400 and be the first guy to win that and the Indy 500?"

Hornish, who won the Indianapolis 500 in 2006, is already the winningest driver in the 11-year history of the IRL in terms of race victories (19) and championships (three). As for stock car questions, the only way he's going to find the answers is if he makes the jump.

"One of the great things about being in my situation is Roger is not making me make a decision," Hornish said. "We're going to sit down and discuss it between all of us when the time comes."

tmay@dispatch.com

Indy Racing League

• What: Honda 200

• When: 1:30 p.m. Sunday

• Where: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington

• TV: Channel 6