Before the 2011 season Penske sold the owners' points of its No. 77 car to Rusty Wallace Racing, to be driven by owner Rusty Wallace's son (and team driver) Steve at the season-opening Daytona 500, for financial reasons. As a result, Penske moved Hornish to the Nationwide Series to drive the team's No. 12 Dodge Charger. He drove the 5-hour Energy 500 at Pocono Raceway in Front Row Motorsports' No. 38 Ford Fusion, filling in for Travis Kvapil (who was driving in a Truck Series event at Texas). Hornish started in 26th place and finished 35th, 60 laps behind. He drove twelve races with the No. 12 team, moving to Penske's No. 22 for a 13th race at Iowa Speedway. At Iowa Hornish started in third place and led from laps 13 through 51, later dropping five laps behind to finish 24th. In the WYPALL* 200 Powered by Kimberly-Clark Professional at Phoenix International Raceway, he started in fifth place and led for the race's final 61 laps after passing Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (who led for a race-high 73 laps) for his first career victory in the series.