Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/23755
VIEWS FROM THE GRANDSTANDS King of the Open Wheel Chip Ganassi’s open-wheel teams were 2010’s cream of the crop, but his Sprint Cup lagged s we crank the ignition on the 2011 season, I’m still marvel- ing over Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson winning their fifth straight NASCAR Sprint Cup championship, rallying in the last race of the 2010 season to nail it down. Good as the 48 team was, though, it finished second behind Chip Ganassi in my personal con- test for Racer of the Year. Ganassi has proven himself the most dynamic multitasker in motorsports today. A Ganassi’s teams won the cham- pionships in both the Indy Racing League and Rolex Grand-Am sports car series and piled up a whopping 19 victories in Sprint Cup, IRL and Grand-Am combined. As impressive to me, though, is that all five teams and all six drivers (Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya in Sprint Cup, Dario Franchitti and Scott LOOSE LUGNUTS Paving the way The much-anticipated repaving of the track at Daytona is complete, and the Daytona 500 ought to be interest- ing. Mark Martin and Bobby Labonte were among the Sprint Cup pilots who checked out the new surface in December, and all agreed that tire wear shouldn’t be a factor at all. They did say the track’s extreme smoothness will help keep everyone bunched up tight, like they often are at Talladega. Also, the new noses should limit the ability of two cars to hook up and “freight-train” their way through the pack like several pairs did so successfully last year at ‘Dega. And because most of the cars likely will spend so much time so close together, the chances for “the big one” will be even greater. Catch me if you can One big change in Sprint Cup this year will be seen on pit road. As the cars switch to E-15 ethanol, they also will begin using the self-venting fuel cans that debuted in the Camp- ing World Truck Series last year. The change will eliminate the catch-can man, meaning that the over-the-wall crews will contain six members instead of seven. It’ll also potentially add a second or two to most stops, 34 TRUCKERS NEWS FEBRUARY 2011 though you know all the teams will diligently seek out ways to get that time back. And keeping all the fuel in the primary will help prevent moisture from humidity or rain from contaminating the ethanol. Don’t have at it, boys There are a few new devel- opments in Formula 1 this season, too. First, officials have clarified that the controversial practice of “team orders” is permitted, meaning teams can tell their drivers to switch posi- tions to advance the team’s greater goals. Teams must, however, be honest over the radio and not use coded messages. More significant, I believe, is that drivers who drive dangerously or unsportingly will face tougher punishments, including parking a driver in midrace or sus- pending him afterward. Previously, officials generally could only impose drive-through or time-related penal- ties or drop drivers down the final standings. Specifically, F1 officials will look closely at drivers attempting to block, running off the track to try to gain an advantage and trying to crowd each other off the track. Stiff- ening these penalties is a clear sign that Formula 1 is no fan of NASCAR’s “have at it, boys” policy. Dixon in IRL and the Scott Pruett- Memo Rojas duo in Grand-Am) reg- istered victories in 2010. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what they call awesome — and unprecedented. Let’s hit some of the highlights. McMurray rallied past Kevin Har- vick and Greg Biffle in the last two laps of the Daytona 500 to earn eas- ily the biggest, and most surprising, victory of his career. Half a season later, he shocked the world again by working his way up through the pack at Indianapolis to win the Brickyard 400 and become only the third driver to win both those big events in the same season. On Memorial Day weekend, Franchitti won the Indianapolis 500 in dominating fashion, leading 155 of the 200 laps. The win, Franchit- ti’s second in three years at Indi- anapolis, made Ganassi the first Jamie McMurray celebrates winning the Daytona 500 in his first race with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. Chip Ganassi became the first team owner to win the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same year. owner to win the Daytona 500 and Indy 500 in the same season. And when McMurray captured the Brick- yard 400, Ganassi became the first owner to win the unofficial Day- tona-Indianapolis-Brickyard “triple crown.” The Grand-Am team uncharac- teristically fumbled away a victory in the prestigious Rolex 24 at Day- tona but rebounded to win nine of its remaining 11 races. The team’s title was Ganassi’s third in the last seven Grand-Am seasons. The obvious question is whether Ganassi can top all that. Maybe, but it almost seems impossible. KAY BELL RUSTY JARRETT/GETTY IMAGES FOR NASCAR