Could the Chipster have a third car for Danica in the Ganassi stable in 2010?
Chip Ganassi loves to shock the racing world, as he did by snatching Juan Montoya out of Formula One and bringing him to NASCAR three years ago. But Ganassi is supposedly working on a deal at the moment that would not only keep open wheel racing's biggest name away from the clutches of NASCAR, it would likely advance her ascention in Indy cars. Danica's managers are working behind the scenes to move IndyCar's most popular driver to one of the top two teams in the Series for 2010. And the 'ol Chipster would be a hero in the IndyCar marketing, public relations and promotions departments.
According to Speed Channel's Robin Miller, Target/Ganassi Racing is considering signing Danica Patrick for a third car on the Target team for 2010, joining Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti. International Management Group, which now represents Patrick in addition to Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning, is known for brokering major deals and supposedly has a Fortune 500 company lined up to partner with the only woman to ever win an Indy car race and Target/Ganassi Racing.
When asked about the Miller story, TGR Managing Director Mike Hull was quoted as saying,
If Patrick were to move from Andretti-Green Racing over to Target/Ganassi Racing, she would join current TGR drivers' Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti(Patrick & Franchitti were AGR teammates in 2007). The side benefits of such a move are three-fold................We've always entertained having a third driver if we could get the comparable funding that Target provides us. If Danica has something and wants to talk to us, that would be great because I think she's ready to take that next step. But I can tell you we haven't spoken to her.
(1)It would give Patrick her best shot as an Indycar driver to win the Indy 500,
(2)It would give the Chipster another driver for his Grand-Am stable in the endurance events[particularly the Rolex 24] and
(3)Should she ever decide to test the NASCAR waters, the Chipster could slide her into one of Earnhardt-Ganassi's two Sprint Cup Series cars for a couple of races..............
As for the Chipster's two current ICS drivers, both are set to return to TGR in 2010 and both have 2 years remaining on their respective contracts.
(Mod's note................Is it safe to say silly season has arrived yet?
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