While it came as a shock when Chip Ganassi sold his NASCAR Cup Series team,
Ganassi started in NASCAR in 2001 and has a total of 14 wins at Cup level and 20 in the Xfinity Series. However, the organisation has won 117 at IndyCar and 59 at IMSA/Grand-Am sportscar. Comparing the numbers of wins with other sports, Chip Ganassi Racing has quite underperformed in NASCAR.
And it’s not only about the quality of drivers in the team. The team have had drivers like Kyle Petty, Martin Truex Jr, Jamie McMurray, Kurt Busch, Sterling Marlin, Robby Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya, Matt Kenseth and Kyle Larson. However, none have performed extraordinarily with the team.
“We won some big races… we lost some big ones too,” Ganassi lamented. “It’s unfortunate when you’ve been in this business so long, the more you remember the ones you lost than the ones you won.”
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But, it will be a huge gain for Trackhouse Racing, who just started operation just this season. Having grown as a Ganassi fan, it will mean a lot for co-owner Justin Marks. As for Chip, he was happy to sale the team’s operation to Marks.
“I wanted to make sure that this business gets put in the right hands,” said Ganassi. “For somebody that has a vision and an idea of what they want to do going forwards and has the money to do that. That was first and foremost of what brought the deal together.
“I do like the idea of maybe not having to think about changing over the new car and all that goes along with that. It certainly is a relief in some sense, but I’ll certainly miss it as well.”
And in Marks, NASCAR will have “fresh blood” which Ganassi believes will be good for the industry.