Chip Ganassi put his team in position to win again and they did. Not only did they win the Rolex 24 at Daytona, but they did it in a stunning fashion dominating the latter stages of the race and leading the most laps. And it was the third win in a row for Ganassi Racing in the Rolex 24.
The team of drivers included Grand Am veteran and sometime Cup driver Scott Pruett, Rolex regular Memo Rojas alongside Ganassi Cup drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Dario Franchitti.
They were able to avoid serious car and weather issues that tend to separate the field in the 24-hour race and it was no different this year.
The fact that Ganassi has won three consecutive titles in CART and now in the Rolex 24 as well as an Indy 500 win prove that Chip knows his stuff. If he can ever get his Cup team in the same groove as he has done with his open wheel and Grand Am teams, look out!
While winning in NASCAR Cup racing is tougher than ever and winning consecutive titles even harder, Ganassi has an eye for talent and is a great team builder. With Jimmy Vasser and Alex Zanardi, he dominated the CART circuit in the mid-90s. His team building efforts in the Rolex 24 has proven itself. Driving for Ganassi in Indy cars, Montoya took the circuit by storm before heading off to fulfill his F1 dreams in Europe.
Now with Franchitti and Montoya teamed with Reed Sorenson, he appears to be building his Cup team around former IRL stars and a promising young stock car driver. Dodge is a solid manufacturer but has been in a slide since moving to the Charger. Once going with the Avenger for 2008, Dodge announced last November it will return in the Charger in 2008. If the Dodge teams can get the Charger back to form, a feat Penske appeared to be near in 2007, then Ganassi should be able to compete and win on more than a road course in 2008.
Toyota has been getting its teams to play together in the sandbox as well as any manufacturer and if they can prove they have platform to compete and win, then it is entirely possible that Ganassi will move to Toyota in the near future. He has a great relationship with Toyota from his open wheel experience. Put the resources of Toyota together with Ganassi’s tenacity and who knows what could happen.
Let me know your thoughts on all this.
Drive fast, turn left and keep the shiny side up.
Feel free to send Chuck your thoughts on this and other race topics at chucka@turnleftracing.com. The blog at www.turnleftracing.com is down now due to spammers. We will have that back up as soon as we can.
