Two years ago, Chip Ganassi’s NASCAR operation was a mess.
Ganassi, one of the most successful team owners in the history of IndyCar racing, was failing miserably at stock-car racing.
He had started out with a bang, winning two races and nearly capturing the Cup championship with veteran driver Sterling Marlin in 2001, the year after he purchased the majority of the team from Felix Sabates.
In 2002, he won two more races with Marlin and discovered a gem in Jamie McMurray, who won in just his second career start in relief of the injured Marlin.
But since then, it had been an uphill battle, with just one more victory and one Chase for the Sprint Cup appearance over the next seven years.
Until now.
Now, Ganassi is on the verge of turning his Earnhardt Ganassi Racing organization into an elite NASCAR team.
Ganassi finally appears to have the drivers, cars and teams to challenge NASCAR’s top teams and organizations.
He has a ways to go to catch the championship-caliber operations of Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing, but he is gaining on Richard Childress Racing and slumping Roush Fenway Racing.
And he’s putting a cloud of dust between his team and the second-tier operations that he had been scrambling to beat.
As good as Ganassi’s teams are in IndyCar and Grand-Am racing, his proudest accomplishment this year has to be the progress and success of his NASCAR operation.
Two years ago, Ganassi’s NASCAR team was a laughingstock, producing just three top-five and five top-10 finishes among two (or two and a half) teams.
Juan Pablo Montoya, whom Ganassi brought to NASCAR after successful stints in CART and Formula One, was impressive in his first NASCAR season, winning a Cup and Nationwide race and finishing 20th in Cup points.
But a year later, when bigger things were expected, Montoya fell on his face, producing just two top-five finishes and stumbling to 25th in the standings, making him wonder what he had gotten himself into.
Young Reed Sorenson was even worse, scoring just two top-10s and finishing 33rd in points, leading to his release after the season.
From 2006 through 2008 – following McMurray’s departure to Roush Fenway Racing – Ganassi’s teams struggled with a host of unaccomplished drivers. Casey Mears, David Stremme and Sorenson all failed miserably in Ganassi’s cars.
The only solid stock-car driver Ganassi had been able to develop was McMurray, who nearly made the Chase twice with Ganassi but bolted for what he thought were greener pastures after the 2005 season.
Ganassi’s answer was to bring some world-renowned open-wheel talent to NASCAR.
That, too, produced mixed results. Montoya adjusted quickly to stock cars and has become a mainstay. But Dario Franchitti struggled and quickly flamed out, mostly because of a lack of sponsorship.
As 2008 came to a close, not only was Ganassi’s NASCAR operation struggling on the track, but it was hurting for sponsorship.
His merger with Dale Earnhardt Inc. seemed at the time like a desperate attempt to save his NASCAR operation.
The merger left the new organization with just two teams for Montoya and former DEI driver Martin Truex Jr.
On paper, it seemed like a strong tandem with two drivers that had won Cup races and appeared on the cusp of a breakout year.
But again, it produced mixed results.
Montoya showed significant improvement, scoring seven top-five and 18 top-10 finishes and making the Chase, giving Ganassi his first appearance in NASCAR’s playoff race. But he failed to win a race and faded to eighth in the final standings.
Truex, however, struggled, producing just one top-five and six top-10 finishes and finishing 23rd in points, leading to his move to Michael Waltrip Racing after the season.
Entering 2010, no one knew what to expect from the Earnhardt Ganassi organization. Montoya was coming off a strong season, but could he return to Victory Lane and get back to the Chase?
Ganassi’s “other driver” was McMurray, who was returning to the organization after four years of struggles and disappointment at Roush. Ganassi, it seemed, was doing nothing more than saving McMurray’s career by giving him a second chance when no other rides were available.
Instead, McMurray has turned out to be a key ingredient to Ganassi’s best season in NASCAR.
McMurray won the season’s two biggest races, at Daytona and Indy, and has come close to winning three other events. It would be no surprise if he adds to his career-high victory total with another win before the year is over.
Montoya has struggled through a highly disappointing season and is out of Chase contention, but his victory Sunday at Watkins Glen soothed some of those wounds.
Ganassi’s teams now have three Cup wins this season, the most since 2002. More importantly, they are in contention almost every week, and it would not be surprising to see McMurray or Montoya win again before the season is over.
By comparison, Roush has won just once this year and RCR has just two wins.
Though both those organizations will put multiple drivers in the Chase, they will have to produce a sudden winning streak or win the Cup championship to have a better season than Ganassi, who has won the three most coveted trophies in American motorsports (Daytona 500, Indy 500, Brickyard 400) in one season.
“We’ve come a long way from where we were at the start of 2009,” Ganassi says.
Ganassi’s teams still need to work on consistency and eliminate the little mistakes that have cost them more wins and top finishes.
And they will not truly reach elite status until both teams make the Chase.
But Chip Ganassi has proven this year that he can build and produce winning NASCAR teams and that he can seriously challenge NASCAR’s best.
