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.
