17th. 2015: Richard Petty Motorsports In 2015 Hornish returned full-time to the Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 9 Ford Fusion for Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM). He replaced Marcos Ambrose, who returned to racing V8 Supercars for DJR Team Penske. Hornish began the season with a twelfth-place finish at the Daytona 500, after starting 38th. He struggled after the season opener, finishing 30th or worse in four of the next eight races. In the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Hornish had a season-best sixth-place finish; after the race, Kevin Manion replaced Drew Blickensderfer as his crew chief. He later finished in the top ten at both road-course races (tenth and ninth at Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen International, respectively). In the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona he was involved in a single-car accident on lap 155, driving into the infield at nearly full speed. Hornish's splitter was pushed under the front of the car; he nearly flipped when the front of the car dug into the grass, and nearly flipped again when he crossed a track access road. He retired from the race, finishing 30th. On November 14, 2015, RPM announced that they did not expect Hornish to return to the team for the 2016 season. Hornish also drove Biagi-DenBeste Racing's No. 98 Ford Mustang part-time in the former Nationwide Series, renamed the Xfinity Series. In three races with the team he had one lead-lap finish, a 14th place at Texas. 2016–2017: Part-time Xfinity Series schedule On May 11, 2016, an article posted online by Sports Illustrated appeared to acknowledge that Hornish had retired from racing after being released by Richard Petty Motorsports, saying he "unharnessed himself one last time" and "hung up his helmet at the end of last season." Five days later, however, an article from The Crescent-News (based in Hornish's birthplace of Defiance, Ohio) quoted Hornish as saying, "I'm still working on something to race in good equipment. Possibilities still exist for this year, but there were a couple of different opportunities that didn't pan out because somebody else brought money to the table." On June 8, 2016, Richard Childress Racing announced plans to add Hornish to their Xfinity Series driver lineup, hiring him to drive the No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro at the July Iowa race and Kentucky. He also ran the No. 2 at Mid-Ohio. Additionally, Hornish returned to Joe Gibbs Racing to drive the No.