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  • Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Is Back

    Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Is Back

    After two years of miserable races, Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing (EGR) has finally returned back to its old form. Although they haven’t quite gotten rid of all the bad luck that seems to haunt the two car organization, the cars seem fast again and have made monumental progress in their overall performance. McMurray sits a solid 12th in the standings with three top 10’s in 2013 which already equals his total from 2012. Juan Pablo Montoya has been snake bit by wrecks and mechanical failures that have kept him deep in the points but he proved at Richmond what is possible for that No.42 should he stay out of trouble.

    Montoya ran up front all night and not many people could say after an event that saw more comers and goers than any race in recent memory. He led 67 laps and finished 4th after a late race caution thwarted his chances of a victory. His last top five was way back in March of 2011 when he finished 4th at Martinsville and he hasn’t led that many laps since his win at Watkins Glen nearly three years ago. It would be ignorant to say that Montoya doesn’t have the talent but it would be acceptable to say that the poor man has no luck at all. Even though he came home with a 4th place finish Saturday and seemed pretty happy about it, the Colombian was all but guaranteed a win as he pulled away from Kevin Harvick until a caution with four laps remaining jumbled up the running order. He restarted 6th while eventual race winner Kevin Harvick restarted 7th and starting on the inside is what won him the race. Had the roles been reversed, Montoya would have most likely been the one passing Jeff Burton with one lap to go.

    Photo Credit: David Yeazell
    Photo Credit: David Yeazell

    McMurray restarted the race 2nd but the field basically ran him over with how old his tires were finishing a disappointing 26th. Even with the unsatisfactory result, the 2010 Daytona 500 winner finds himself just 26pts out of the top 10 and ahead of champions such as Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart. In 2009 and 2010, EGR asserted themselves as one of the better teams winning four races including the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400. They also put Montoya in the 2009 chase and had the Wild-Card existed in 2010, McMurray would have been in it with his three wins. It looks like they are steadily turning things around and I wouldn’t be surprised to see both of their drivers make the chase this year. At the very least, I see both McMurray and Montoya winning a race before the year is over.

    Is it the switch Hendrick engines that has helped this team or is it something else? People were shocked when team owner Chip Ganassi didn’t make any major personal changes following their dismal 2012 which saw Jamie finish 21st in points and Juan 22nd. I have to give major props to Chip for not overreacting to what seemed to be a hopeless situation in the eyes of most. Kevin Manion and Chris Heroy are still the crew chiefs and the combinations seem to be working well. All this team lacked was speed and I believe Hendrick power has given them that missing piece they needed to run up front again. Chip felt it would be imprudent to turn the team inside out after all their struggles saying this during the off season; “We’re not afraid to make changes, but we’re not going to make change for the sake of making change.”

    That risky ideology looks like it was the right call after all. Between McMurray and Montoya there are 8 NASCAR Sprint Cup wins, 9 Nationwide wins, 3 in Grand-Am, 10 in open-wheel and 7 F1 victories that include races such as the 24 Hours of Daytona, the Indy 500, the Daytona 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix. There is certainly no lack of talent there and now they have the cars to back their fully capable drivers up. The travails of the past two years has finally ended and EGR has 27 more races to parlay these great results into race wins and they can do it. Watch out for these two because they could easily become two of the biggest upsets in 2013 and if the bad luck ceases, they will become threats to win almost every single week.

  • Kyle Larson, Chad Hackenbracht and Matt Tifft Get Chance at NASCAR Dream

    Kyle Larson, Chad Hackenbracht and Matt Tifft Get Chance at NASCAR Dream

    Photo Credit: Streeter Lecka, Getty Images
    Photo Credit: Streeter Lecka, Getty Images

    The future young guns of NASCAR, Kyle Larson, Chad Hackenbracht and Matt Tifft, all have one thing in common. The trio is getting their chance to achieve their NASCAR dreams.

    Just a short time ago, about a year in fact, Kyle Larson stepped into a stock car to race for the first time. Now, the 20 year old up and comer has scored a full-time Nationwide Series ride through a partnership between Earnhardt Ganassi Racing and Turner Scott Motorsports.

    Larson’s quick rise in the NASCAR ranks came after winning the K&N Pro Series East title. Then, in just four races in the Camping World Truck Series, the youngster finished top-ten three times and was runner up at the Phoenix race.

    Larson will be paired with crew chief Trent Owens, who posted the following message on Facebook, “Very excited about the announcement that I’ll be the crew chief for Kyle Larson in Nationwide at Turner Scott Motorsports this year!! Also back to the number 32 that has a special place with me. Hoping this season will be a great one. So pumped!!”

    Although quite not so effusive, Chip Ganassi, a champion owner in his own right, is looking forward to the continuing development of his newest young talent.

    “We feel that he’s certainly capable of it,” Ganassi said. “I don’t think we’re rushing him along or anything like that.”

    “Like I said, he’s shown great ability in anything he’s driven so far.”

    Larson, on the other hand, knows that with the spotlight and the opportunity comes quite a bit of pressure.

    “I know I have a lot of pressure on me,” Larson said. “I try not to pay attention to it at all.”

    “Every week, I just try to go out and do the best I can,” Larson continued. “I try to finish in the top 10 in each race an log as many laps as I can.”

    “Each lap is just going to help me develop as a driver,” Larson said. “I’m going to need that since I’m really young and hopefully will be in a sport a long time.”

    “I will just try to develop as much as I can this year and do better in the future.”

    Joining Kyle Larson in the Nationwide Series will be another young gun with a very interesting last name. TriStar Motorsports announced that Chad Hackenbracht will join the team for at least five Nationwide races.

    Hackenbracht has raced most recently in the ARCA Series for his family’s team, scoring one trip to victory lane, two poles, five top-five finishes and 12 top-ten finishes. He completed the ARCA season top five in the championship point standings.

    “I’m excited for the opportunity,” Hackenbracht said. “I have not run any NASCAR events and I’m excited to make my debut in the Nationwide Series with an established team.”

    “My expectations are to finish every race I run this year, qualify in the top-20 and pull off top-15 finishes,” Hackenbracht continued. “The Nationwide Series is going to be very competitive this year but I’m ready for the challenge.”

    Hackenbracht’s team owner is also excited with his new addition and with being a part of the youngster’s development in the sport.

    “We are really looking forward to having Chad join our team,” Mark Smith said. “He has already shown that he has a lot of talent behind the wheel of a stock car.”

    “We are excited to help him develop his skills and give him his first opportunity to race in NASCAR,” Smith continued. “He will have some veteran guidance, which should help him as he takes the next step in his racing career.”

    The youngest up and comer of the bunch is Matt Tifft, who at just sixteen years of age will be moving up this season from the ARCA Midwest Tour to the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. Tifft will be racing full-time in that Series, which has catapulted other drivers such as Martin Truex Jr. to the highest level of the sport.

    Tifft will partner with Shane Tesch, a NASCAR veteran, to compete for the Rookie of the Year honors behind the wheel of the No. 89 Chevrolet Impala.

    “In the last couple months we have been working on this deal,” Tifft said. “The K&N Series is the next thing we wanted to do so when it came together with Win-Tron, it was a really good fit.”

    Tifft started racing young as his father owned a dirt late model and raced in Michigan. In 2007, when he was eleven years old, Tifft jumped into a go kart and fell in love with racing in his own right.

    “I always watched NASCAR, but I was hooked at that point,” Tifft said.

    Since then, Tifft has run in several karting series, as well as late model racing, before racing on the ARCA Midwest Tour. The teen scored  Rookie of the Year honors in that series in his first ever points series season and finished fifth in points.

    “It’s the right time to move up to the K&N Series,” Tifft said. “It’s better to get more experience in the bigger, heavier cars in a NASCAR series.”

    And just who might some of Tifft’s heroes be in the racing world? One of them is a driver that is joining him in the move up in his NASCAR career.

    “I’ve watched drivers like Kyle Larson and watching him go through and get the experience in the K&N Series is what helped attract me,” Tifft said.

    “It’s a really cool deal to build up that experience.”

    Tifft, like Larson and Hackenbracht, is all about learning, growing and just fine-tuning skills behind the wheel. He summed it up best for himself and his fellow racing compatriots who will be racing at the next level this season.

    “I know I have a lot of learning to do,” Tifft said simply. “But I’m up to the challenge.”

  • Penske Racing Dominates Testing at Barber Motorsports Park

    The IndyCar Series spent March 14th and 15th testing at Barber Motorsports Park, where Penske Racing assured their spot on top of the IZOD IndyCar Series. It also previewed another season of a Penske Racing-Target Chip Ganassi Racing battle for the championship.

    On the first day of testing, Penske driver Will Power topped the charts at 114.198mph, with a lap of 1 minute, 12.5056 seconds. Target Chip Ganassi Racing Driver Scott Dixon was second (1.12.5538) with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s Justin Wilson third (1.12.6791).

    On the second day of testing, Helio Castroneves led the field at 1 minute, 11.943 seconds with teammate Power second at 1.11.9636.

    “I was expecting something different from the car because it kept changing throughout the day based on the track,” Castroneves said. “I was expecting the car was going to push but it went the opposite way. The good news is that nothing was damaged.  The field is so competitive; we have some new teams up at the top giving us a hard time.   Also my teammates, they are two great talents – Ryan (Briscoe) and Will (Power) – pushing each other but I’m glad we were able to put the No. 3 up at the top at the end of the day.”

    “This was a really good couple of days of testing and our Verizon car was very good,” Power said. “We did a lot of work and learned tons of valuable information about our car here at Barber. Today we practiced pit stops, which are every bit as important as speed on the track with how tight the competition is in this series. I am definitely ready to get this season started.”

    Dixon, Penske’s Ryan Briscoe and Newman/Haas Racing’s Oriol Servia rounded out the top five on the second day.

    “Team Target had a good couple of days with lots of big and good changes,” Dixon said. “The No. 9 Target Honda has been decent, remaining in the top-3 both days. We’re just going through the motions and making necessary adjustments before we start the season in St. Pete.”

    “It was a really good couple of days here at Barber for the No. 6 IZOD Team Penske car,” Briscoe said. “We are very happy with the car we finished with today. We even did a long run, which compromised our chance to do a sticker tire run for time, but we did a lot of great race prep and we should be in good shape for the race here in a few weeks. This is an exciting track and I’m very happy to be back in an IndyCar.”

    “I’m so happy!” Servia said. “Obviously it’s great to be in the top-five, but I’m just so happy. When you are running in the top-five, there is a reason. I felt good in the car, with the team. I was a blast when I looked at the scoring board an hour before the end and we were one and two. That’s the way Newman/Haas has always been, and that’s the way it has to be and it just felt great that we got there with two days of testing. There is still a lot to come from myself and the car. We progressed big stages to get where we are and there is still more. I feel very happy; everybody is super motivated. James was super helpful all day yesterday and today with him knowing the track and I really hope we can be teammates. The two cars worked together really well and we made a lot of progress together. I’m very happy with the team and myself. When you are a year out of the car, of course you still think you can drive but it is just so great knowing it is true.”

    The test sesson was set to prepare for the season opener at St. Peterburg’s on March 28th, but also the Grand Prix of Alabama, which is set to take place on April 10th at Barber.

    The test didn’t go totally uneventful free as on the second day, Mike Conway made contact with the tire barriers.

    “The car handled a little differently than it did yesterday, and it just caught me out,” Conway said. “I got on the grass coming out of (Turn) 15 and it was so wet, it took me straight into the barrier. It’s a shame, but fortunately, it’s just a test day.”

    Dario Franchitti, last year’s champion, made some recommendations to track owner George Barber, but also had some compliments.

    “I asked him if the curbs could stand out more when they paint them — red and white as opposed to gray and white,” he said. “I also told him I wouldn’t mind borrowing the guy who cuts his grass because he does a hell of a job. If my wife sees what he’s doing here, planting trees and stuff, it will be very expensive for me. It’s a pretty special place.”

    Last year was a special year for Chip Ganassi as not only did he win the IndyCar Championship with Franchitti, they also won the Indianapolis 500 together. Ganassi also added a Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 victory to his resume with Jamie McMurray, along with the Grand-Am Championship. With his accomplishments, Ganassi is nominated for Executive of the Year, while his team Chip Ganassi Racing is nominated for Team of the Year in the Sports Business Journal Awards. The awards are set to be presented in New York on May 18th.

    “It’s great to be recognized for all the hard work the teams put in,” Ganassi said. “You have to remember that motorsports is one of those businesses that as great a year that 2010 was, and it was an unbelievable year and one that any car owner dreams about, that was last year and this is this year. It’s a zero-based game.

    “We’re starting back at zero and the points are all tied for all the championships. It’s a new year and no one is going to forget about last year faster than our competitors that want to beat us. It’s going to be a lot of hard work and to accomplish anything close to what we did last year, but that’s why we are back here. That’s the kind of challenge that we like and what attracts us to the sport — the challenge.”

    Ganassi has already started leaving his mark this year with a victory in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.

  • Daytona’s Magical Aura: Jamie McMurray’s 2010 Daytona 500

    Daytona’s Magical Aura: Jamie McMurray’s 2010 Daytona 500

    Daytona has always had this magical aura with stories surrounding the Daytona 500 that everybody loves to tell over and over. As we near closer to the Daytona 500, here is a look back through some of the highlighted moments in Daytona 500 history.

    [media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”212″][/media-credit]When it got near the end of the 2009 season, there was a lot in question with many drivers and teams.

    Jamie McMurray had been let go from Roush-Fenway Racing as the odd man out when Roush has to downsize his team, looking for a new ride.

    Earnhardt-Ganassi had just lost Martin Truex Jr. to Michael Waltrip Racing and was now looking for a driver to go with sponsor Bass Pro Shops. Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing found themselves also in question with the status of the team after the merger between Chip Ganassi Racing and Dale Earnhardt Incorporated.

    Both needed somebody and needed to turn their ship back upstream so they went to each other – Chip Ganassi called on Jamie McMurray to drive for the No. 1 car for him.

    They had worked together as McMurray began his Sprint Cup career at with Ganassi in 2002. It was announced at Richmond that he’d drive the No. 42 Dodge for the 2003 season full-time, although after Sterling Marlin was injured at Kansas, those plans were accelerated. McMurray began driving the car at Talladega in 2002. They had success quickly together then as in his second-ever start, he led 96 of the final 100 laps to win the UAW-GM Quality 500. The following seasons produced positive final standings finishes as he finished 13th, 11th and 12th in points, despite zero wins. During this time, he accumulated 18 top fives and 46 top 10 finishes.

    At the end of the 2005 season, McMurray left Chip Ganassi Racing to drive the No. 26 Roush-Fenway Ford, hoping for bigger results. Though in return, the point finishes weren’t there: He finished 25th 17th, 16th and 22nd over the next four years with a total of 11 top fives and 42 top 10s. He did manage to win two races (2007 Coke Zero 400 and 2009 Amp Energy 500), but for the most part, the expected success wasn’t there.

    As a result, the 2010 Daytona 500 became the perfect story for both McMurray and Ganassi as it began the start of the second partnership. The race couldn’t had gone any better as McMurray took the lead with a pass by Kevin Harvick on the second green-white-checkered after a big push from ex-teammate Greg Biffle. McMurray never looked back as he took the win over Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Greg Biffle.

    When it came to McMurray’s victory celebration, he let all the emotions out that he had gone through during this time as fans saw him fall to his knees in tears on the Daytona logo, followed by more tears in victory lane.

    “Unbelievable,” McMurray said in victory lane in tears. “Unbelievable. I told my wife today, she was like if you win tonight….oh I am going to cry…it is so unreal. I thought if I made it without seeing my Dad or my wife, I’d be ok. It is unbelievable really. I can’t explain it. It is a dream. I mean it really it is.

    “Where I was last year…and for Johnny Morris (Bass Pro Shops) and Chip (Ganassi) and Felix (Sabates), Bass Pro Shops to take a chance on me and let me come back, it means a lot to me. What a way to pay them back. Happy Valentines Day to my wife. My Dad is here, it is just very emotional.

    “After we won Talladega, we went to McDonald’s. I think tonight we will have a Big Mac.”

    McMurray said earlier in the weekend that he was glad that he kept a good relationship with Ganassi and Sabates since he was able to get this chance again.

    With the Daytona 500 victory, he certainly proved he was worthy of a second chance and that their second time together could equal to lots of success.

    McMurray’s dream season this past didn’t just end with the Daytona 500 as he won the second biggest race of the year—the Brickyard 400, which gave Chip Ganassi the Indy sweep as Dario Franchitti won the Indy 500 earlier in the year.

    “I think it’s just a situation where you got to get the guys in the right position with the right crew chief and the right team and the right owner,” McMurray said following the Brickyard win. “I’ll tell you something that [team owner] Chip [Ganassi] said to me right before I got in the car. He said, ‘Let’s go out and do this thing.’ I said, ‘I’ll give you everything I got.’ He said, ‘I know, that’s why I hired you. I believe in you. You go out and do your best, that will be enough.’

    “I think every driver is different, but for me that’s what drives me, is having somebody behind you. I think it’s been really good for both Chip and I to experience all of this together because we were together when things weren’t great and we kind of built this together along with the 1 team to where it is.”

    McMurray then finished NASCAR’s version of the triple crown by winning in NASCAR Central, winning the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

    “I also want to take the time to explain something: as the laps were winding down, I was thinking about Daytona and crying in victory lane,” McMurray said in victory lane at Charlotte. “I don’t think I ever really got to explain that, and why I cried, and what was going on there. As those laps were winding down I was thinking about Daytona and why I cry and the power of prayer. I had a tough year last year. I found out the power of prayer and what that can do for you.

    “When you get to victory lane, and you get to experience this, it just makes you a believer. I talked to Chip earlier today, and we were discussing sponsorship and where this organization was a year ago, and how far we’ve come. 

    “To be in victory lane four times this year, and to have both cars (teammate Juan Pablo Montoya) run as well as they do, and to have the support we do from Target and all these sponsors now, it’s incredible. And I just feel very blessed to be a part of it.”

    As a whole, McMurray had one of the best seasons that any driver could have. One of the downsides is yes, he did miss the Chase, however, it still was a great year, considering how lost things were at the beginning.

    “We’ve had a really good season,” McMurray said in the media center following his Charlotte win. “Our successes have been in some really big races, and it’s really been a gratifying year. You just drive your heart out. If you’ve got the car, you can make those passes, and we had the better car at the end.”

    In the end, he finished the year off 14th in points with three wins, nine top fives and 12 top 10s.

    McMurray’s season allowed Ganassi to establish himself as a valid NASCAR owner by winning two of the biggest races in the sport. Ganassi also completed what he calls the “Ganassi Slam” as his team won the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, giving him four of the biggest wins at the two of the biggest tracks in a 12-month span.

    This story proves that anything is possible and when times get tough, there are ways to get through and make a positive at the end of the journey. The magical side of the emotions and how it played out go back to the Daytona’s Magical Aura of creating stories that fans will remember forever.