After all the denials, intentional misdirection and typical tap dancing that accompanies deals of this magnitude, it turned out to be a no-brainer for all three players involved.

Gil de Ferran wisely recognized he'd accomplished just about everything he'd ever wanted in open wheel racing.

Sam Hornish Jr. understood the best way to become an Indianapolis 500 legend was to drive for the most successful team in IMS history.

Roger Penske's reputation is to hire anybody who is capable of beating him on a regular basis so he simply followed his Capitalistic creed and snatched the Indy Racing League's all-time winner.

That's a brief synopsis of Monday's official announcement that Hornish is headed to Team Penske in 2004 to replace the retiring de Ferran.

As first speculated months ago on RPM2Night and reported last week on ESPN.com, Penske pilfering Hornish from Panther Racing made perfect sense in every way.

"Roger is an opportunist. He goes after what he wants and usually gets it," said Jim McGee, president of Patrick Racing who ran Team Penske for several years in the late '70s and early '80s.

	Penske, left, won this year's Indy 500 with driver Gil de Ferran, right.

First off, the 24-year-old native of Defiance, Ohio is the Penske perfect fit because he's fast, smooth, smart, polite, humble, fan friendly and a media favorite. In many ways he resembles Rick Mears, one of The Captain's all-time best catches.

While Mears had nothing but promise when Penske signed him in 1978, Gary Bettenhausen, Tom Sneva, Danny Sullivan, Paul Tracy, Helio Castroneves, de Ferran and the late Greg Moore all excelled for other teams before going to the owner with 13 Indy 500 victories. After watching Hornish beat Castroneves and de Ferran for the 2002 IRL championship, Penske went into action.

The press release or Marlboro Team Penske spin will be that this deal just went down in the past couple weeks but, believe me, Hornish verbally committed to this months ago.

"Roger always had a theory that you signed a guy early, at least before before May, because you didn't want to get into a bidding war with everyone," recalled McGee.

"Remember when they announced Greg Moore was going to Team Penske at Detroit (June of 1999)? I think he was signed back in April at Japan. That's the way Roger does things."

Panther Racing, which gave Hornish the opportunity to make a name for himself in the all-oval series three years ago, was understandable miffed it didn't get a chance to make him an offer of $4 million a year to stay.

And while Hornish is appreciative of Panther taking a chance on him in 2001, he's clever enough to know Team Penske is top of the line when it comes to motorsports. He'll deservedly make big money for the first time but, more importantly, might have found a home for the rest of his career.

	Sam Hornish Jr.

Hornish's comments last week about not wanting to be a "big fish in a little pond" and seeking new challenges had many guessing NASCAR so maybe that was his way of trying to throw everyone off his trail.

He'll probably still get to run Daytona and the Brickyard 400 for Penske but he won't be lost to stock cars like Tony Stewart.

As for de Ferran, who we predicted would quit and be replaced by Hornish at the end of 2002, it's simply perfect timing.

The personable and versatile 35-year-old Brazilian who lives in Miami captured back-to-back CART titles, won this year's Indy 500 and still has a shot at the 2003 IRL championship. He's got nothing left to accomplish or prove.

"I wanted to stop while the music was still playing," said de Ferran on Monday afternoon. "It was a hard decision to make but I accomplished everything I ever imagined except competing in Formula One.

"It's been a great journey and I'm most proud of all the great people and relationships I've had over here."

It was a great ride for de Ferran, it's going to be an excellent opportunity for Hornish and it's some much-needed good news for IRL fans, as well as open wheel racing.

Robin Miller covers open wheel racing for ESPN and ESPN.com.