On Wednesday, the motorsports world were shocked that TrackHouse Racing purchased Chip Ganassi Racing’s NASCAR team. It was something that no one saw coming, except for Chip Ganassi, Pitbull, and Justin Marks.
This move will end Chip Ganassi’s 20-year tenure at NASCAR after the 2021 season. He will end his tenure with fourteen wins, 115 top-five, 377 top-ten finishes, and eighteen poles. Ganassi is one of the biggest motorsport owners in the world. So, why did he decide to sell his NASCAR team?
Ganassi said at the press conference, “My NASCAR team was not for sale. Justin simply came to me with a great offer and an even better vision. As everyone knows, I care deeply for my employees, so selling to someone like Justin, who is part of the CGR family, made the reality of selling much easier.”
Neither team disclosed how much TrackHouse Racing paid to acquire Chip Ganassi Racing. So, with his exit from the sport, where does NASCAR go from here?
Recently, teams have been announcing their plans for the upcoming 2022 season. Kaulig Racing is entering the Cup Series after buying two charter teams from Spire Motorsports. In addition, they announced that Justin Haley will drive full-time in the one car and A.J. Allmendinger will drive part-time in the other car. Plus, NASCAR has the new NextGen car coming next year.
Hendrick Motorsports last month named Jeff Gordon the Vice Chairman and second in command behind Rick Hendrick. Gordon has owned a stake in Hendrick Motorsports since 1999 and will one day take the team’s reins. However, even with Gordon taking over the team one day, that doesn’t mean the team will be successful. NASCAR is counting on the Gordon name to keep the old-school fans coming to the races, and they are simply not anymore.
For TrackHouse Racing, this purchase of Chip Ganassi Racing is establishing themselves as a top NASCAR team heading into the 2022 season. But they will have to make some tough decisions. Currently, Ganassi runs two cars with Kurt Busch and Ross Chastain. Chastain is in his first full season with CGR, and Kurt Busch will be a free agent at the end of the year.
TrackHouse Racing has already announced they will field a two-car team with Daniel Suarez returning to the No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro next year. So the question becomes, who will drive the other car? Ross Chastain now has to perform just to even be considered for a full-time ride next year, whether it’s TrackHouse Racing or somewhere else.
The downfall of Chip Ganassi leaving NASCAR is it leaves a big hole in the sport. This leaves Rick Hendrick, Joe Gibbs, Richard Childress, and Rodger Penske the top owners in NASCAR. Those owners will carry NASCAR until they decide to leave, which won’t be good for the sport.
Another reason why Chip Ganassi got out of NASCAR is because of the cost to field a team. NASCAR owners pay anywhere from $15 to $20 million a year to race the full season. That’s not including hotel, gas, tires, car parts, and everything else. For IndyCar, it only costs $3-10 million a year. No wonder why Ganassi can field more cars in IndyCar and other racing leagues than NASCAR.
Whatever amount TrackHouse Racing paid Ganassi for his NASCAR team. Ganassi will have more cash to spend that could upgrade his teams in IndyCar, IMSA, Extreme E, or start another team under the Ganassi banner, or maybe get involved with another racing league like the Repco Supercars Championship.
Chip Ganassi made the right decision to get out of NASCAR. Despite him not winning a championship in NASCAR, he is an accomplished owner that has made an impact elsewhere. NASCAR has many problems, and the cost of the sport has forced teams to shut down, sponsors leaving, and fans have stopped attending races for the most part. NASCAR will miss Chip Ganassi more than Ganassi missing NASCAR.
