Chip Ganassi Racing

Lore & Background

After winning four consecutive CART championships from 1996 to 1999 with drivers Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi and Juan Pablo Montoya, in 2000 Ganassi became the first CART organization to return to the Indianapolis 500 after the open-wheel 'split' between CART and the Indy Racing League in 1996. A dominant victory with Montoya would foresee the team's permanent switch to the IRL (now IndyCar Series), where further championships would be won with Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti and Álex Palou, including another four straight from 2008 to 2011. In 2026, the team fielded the Nos. 8, 9 and 10 Dallara-Hondas for Kyffin Simpson, Dixon, and Palou full-time in the IndyCar Series, and the Nos. 8, 9, 10 and 11 Dallaras for James Roe, Bryce Aron, Niels Koolen and Carson Etter in the Indy NXT Series. In 2001, Ganassi bought a majority stake in Felix Sabates' Team SABCO NASCAR team, which had operated since 1989, marking his entry into that championship as Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, while also partnering to compete in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. In 2009, Ganassi partnered with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. owner Teresa Earnhardt to merge their NASCAR operations into Ganassi's shop and run under the banner of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. The NASCAR team dropped the Earnhardt name in 2014, and Ganassi revealed that Teresa was never truly involved with the team. Rob Kauffman purchased a stake in the team in 2015. Sabates retired from his ownership role after the 2020 season. In 2021, Ganassi accepted an unsolicited offer from former CGR Xfinity Series driver Justin Marks to sell the entire NASCAR operation to Marks' Trackhouse Racing Team, with the deal finalized after that season. Together, they have won 17 Open Wheel titles (4 in CART, 13 in IndyCar), 5 Grand-Am sports car championships, and wins in the Indianapolis 500 (six times), Daytona 500, Brickyard 400, 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, Petit Le Mans and a 24 Hours of Le Mans class win, and over 200 wins across all categories.

In Their Own Story

The garage is quiet in the way only a Ganassi garage can be — not empty, just focused. A technician in a navy-blue shirt runs a torque wrench across the rear suspension, counting under his breath, while two feet away a driver in a fireproof suit sits on a stool, knees up, watching the data stream on a tablet. The smell of hot rubber and hydraulic fluid hangs in the fluorescent light. Outside, the pit lane stretches long and white, the other garages already buzzing with their own dramas. But in here, there's a particular calm. The radio crackles with a call from the race engineer: track position, fuel window, tire delta. The driver nods, stands, pulls his helmet on. The visor drops. For a moment the garage is just a room full of people who've done this a hundred times and will do it a hundred more. Then the engine catches, the car rolls out into the sun, and the pit lane swallows it whole.

Reader's Guide

Current IndyCar Series drivers: Kyffin Simpson (No. 8), Scott Dixon (No. 9), Álex Palou (No. 10). Notable former drivers include Eddie Cheever, Arie Luyendyk, Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi, Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan, Marcus Ericsson, and many others as listed in the source article's chronological driver list.

Did You Know?

• Chip Ganassi was a former racecar driver whose career was cut short by a crash at Michigan in 1984.
• The team won four consecutive CART championships from 1996 to 1999.
• In 2000, Ganassi became the first CART team to return to the Indianapolis 500 after the open-wheel split.
• The team has won the Indianapolis 500 six times.
• Scott Dixon drove for CGR from 2002 to 2026.