With a record that includes 24 Cup Series victories and 21 Xfinity Series wins, 53 poles and two All-Star race victories, former NASCAR owner Chip Ganassi is set to leave motorsports after the NASCAR Cup Series championship series finale in Phoenix on Sunday.
Car owner Chip Ganassi looks on from pit road during an IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, on July 4, 2021. First things first: Chip Ganassi is "no doubt about it, 100%" rooting for Kyle Larson to win the NASCAR Cup Series championship in Sunday's season finale.
The future of Ganassi's NASCAR operation depended on Larson, but Ganassi fired him last year over Larson's use of a racial slur. There wasn't really any other decision to make. Ganassi could keep Larson or he could keep the sponsors that keep the lights on at the shop. Larson got a pink slip. Marks couldn't get the NASCAR charters he needed for his own upstart team, so he bought an entire race team after cold-calling Ganassi. It's been a fast-moving four months: CGR had a farewell luncheon at the shop Tuesday. Some employees will be hired by Trackhouse; some are out of luck."You could be melancholy if you want to be, but I look at it and see a lot of successes over the years," Ganassi told The Associated Press this week.
The highlight was 11 years ago when Jamie McMurray returned to Ganassi and won the season-opening Daytona 500. McMurray won the Brickyard 400 that season, too, and coupled with Dario Franchitti's victory in the Indianapolis 500 and a sports car win at Rolex 24 at Daytona to open the 2011 season, Ganassi became the only team owner to claim all those crown jewels in a 12-month period.The 63-year-old Ganassi is not a NASCAR lifer.
CGR alone in 20 years lost big-money backers Coors Light, Texaco/Havoline and Wrigley Co. and then flagship sponsor Target ended its 27-year partnership with Ganassi. DC Solar made a big showing at Phoenix in 2018 when it introduced itself as a major Ganassi sponsor for the next season. Less than two months later, founder Jeff Carpoff was raided by the the FBI and DC Solar was accused of being a $1 billion Ponzi scheme.
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