Chip Ganassi has found a way to make his team not as
pathetic as before and
Dale Earnhardt Inc. has found a way to keep grasping at being a relevant Sprint Cup Series team.
That method? Join the two programs together to create strange bedfellows, cut costs and hope that a math equation of subpar plus subpar finally equals something good.
Yep, Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates will be teaming up to make a four-car team in 2009.
Two of motorsports' biggest names - Earnhardt and Ganassi - will launch a four-car team beginning in 2009 through the combination of the motorsports operations of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) and Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Inc. (CGRFS). NASCAR stars Martin Truex Jr. and Juan Pablo Montoya will drive the Nos. 1 and 42 respectively and future star Aric Almirola will be behind the wheel of the No. 8. The driver of the No. 41 will be named in the near future.
For those of you keeping track at home, this combination of forces currently includes 4 cars, 3 drivers and 2.5 sponsorships. Let's hope that changes before 2009.
Additionally, the overriding rumor is that Chevrolet will be the manufacturer for the organization, mainly because it's very likely Dale Earnhardt would rise from his grave to haunt anything bearing his name that doesn't bear a bow tie. Dodge, Ganassi's current partner, is apparently being shoved out.
Brad Coleman's entry and exit to and from the NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series with Hall of Fame Racing came to an abrupt halt after just one race,
ESPN says.
[Brad] Coleman's fortunes changed quickly [...] According to
Hall of Fame Racing, Coleman is now a free agent. He is no longer under contract to Hall of Fame.
Coleman's lone Sprint Cup race came at
Michigan International Speedway in August when the 20-year-old driver replaced a fired
J.J. Yeley in the No. 96 DLP Toyota. In that event, he started 37th and finished 43rd.
For giggles, I think I'll
cite my previous post on Coleman's quick turn up to NASCAR's top division:
Hall of Fame sure isn't a place where a driver is going to go win championships, and knowing that Coleman just might be making a career mistake of jumping in a car that races in the Sprint Cup Series but doesn't compete.
Now I get that "just might be making a career mistake" isn't a "Coleman will be cut after one race"-type prediction, but come on, the writing was on the wall for this kid and his move to a team I wouldn't even drive for if offered the chance.
Yeah, Hall of
Shame Fame Racing is just that bad, but this certainly leaves plenty of questions as to why it took so long for word to come out about Coleman.
