IndyCar
Chip Ganassi Racing celebrating 35th anniversary in 2025
ST. PETERSBURG, FL (March 2, 2025) – Chip Ganassi Racing embarks on its 35th season with Sunday’s season opening NTT INDYCAR SERIES Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding.
CGR was founded in 1990 after Ganassi purchased the assets of Patrick Racing. Ganassi’s late father Floyd told me back in 1999 that the seeds of ownership were actually planted by his mother Marie, who wanted Chip to retire from driving after suffering serious head injuries in a crash at the Michigan 500 in 1984.
“When I look back on the 35 years, I know it’s because of the people that we have been able to consistently enjoy success, so any credit really goes to all of them,” said Ganassi. “However, I must say that I look at us like a 35-year-old start-up company. Every year we need to redefine both our mission and vision. We reinvent ourselves, then regroup, and refocus. I think this is what has always kept us motivated.”
CGR is coming off back-to-back INDYCAR Championships won by Alex Palou and the No. 10 DHL Honda squad and has won 4-of-the-last-5 INDYCAR titles, including Palou’s first title in 2021 and Scott Dixon’s sixth Championship in 2020.
CGR is no stranger to reeling off multiple titles in a row winning four-straight from 1996-2000 with alums Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi and Juan Pablo Montoya and again from 2008-2011 with Dixon and alum Dario Franchitti.
That kind of consistency is something that teams search endlessly for but is what motivates the entire organization.
“I think what defines Chip Ganassi Racing is, for 90 percent of the people in motor racing, it’s about forecasting change, and that’s what Chip does an extremely good job of,” said Mike Hull, CGR’s Managing Director. “We have three of the best drivers in the business driving for us, and that’s what Chip does a really good job of, he’s able to not necessarily hire those drivers but find those drivers, and those are drivers that work together like these three do. That’s who we are. That’s who we’ve always been.”
Unselfishness and a team-first attitude is a hallmark of CGR and it’s evident in the teams success but it was forged when the team wasn’t winning titles.
“I think ’04 and ’05 are definitely years that we tried to forget at the team, but obviously I think the years we learned the most, as well, and definitely built a fantastic foundation for the future,” said Dixon, who drives the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda.
PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon holds the Astor Cup after winning his sixth NTT IndyCar Series Championship. (Photo: Penske Entertainment – Chris Owens)
“I think all of us are quietly confident. I think the team is always confident. Looking forward to a strong year and hopefully a championship for the 35th anniversary.”
A Championship for Dixon would tie him with A.J. Foyt for the most Championships in Series history, something Palou could close in on if he makes it three-in-a-row in 2025.
“It’s been an amazing two years, going back-to-back,” said Palou. “It’s very been very different. I would say ’23 we felt like we had a lot of speed everywhere and were winning a lot of races, and last year we had a lot more issues, a lot more mistakes on track, as well, and we just want to get back on form. We’ve been digging deep this off-season to look better in places that we normally struggle a little bit more.”
Chip Ganassi raises the Astor Cup following Alex Palou’s third Championship in 2024. (Photo: Penske Entertainment – Chris Owens)
Throughout the 35-years the Ganassi organization has amassed 23-motorsports Championships and 260-wins in some of the biggest motorsports events in the world including five Indianapolis 500 wins, eight wins in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, two in the 12 Hours of Sebring and wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400.
Ganassi likes to use the hashtag #ilikewinners on his social media posts and there is no doubt that Chip Ganassi Racing has consistently proven over its history that they are winners and Champions.
THERMAL, CA (March 21, 2025) – Two-time defending and three-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES Champion Alex Palou is atop the speed charts after the first practice session at The Thermal Club.
Palou’s fast lap of 1-minute, 40.5486-seconds in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda around the 17-turn, 3.067-mile natural terrain road course was 0.0901-seconds quicker than Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood’s lap in the No. 27 Chili’s Honda.
“A really good start to the weekend for the No. 10 DHL Honda team,” said Palou. “We didn’t get many laps because of some red flags, but the car rolled off really well considering it was very different to last year with different tires and the hybrid unit, and we didn’t test here this year. I’m really happy.”
Kirkwood wasn’t the only Andretti Global car to shine as 2022 Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge winner Marcus Ericsson was third at 1:40.7370 in the No. 28 Bryant Honda, followed by Southern California native Colton Herta at 1:40.8439 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda.
“Good start for all the Andretti cars,” said Herta. “All in the top 5. Just happy with that. This is a place where we tested, so really wanted to start off on the right foot. If we’re not quick right away after a place that you’ve tested at, it’s a little disappointing. You scratch your heads a little bit. So to start off that way is a little bit expected because we tested here, but it feels good.”
Not feeling good is the PREMA Racing team after a lengthy red flag for rookie Robert Shwartzman, who was forced to stop on track just past Turn 6 when a fire erupted in the rear of his No. 83 Chevrolet. Shwartzman quickly climbed from the car and was not hurt but the car was destroyed.
Saturday’s schedule features another practice at 1 p.m. ET, followed by NTT P1 Award qualifying at 5:05 p.m. ET (both on FS1, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network). The 65-lap race starts at 3 p.m. ET Sunday (FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
IndyCar
Scott Dixon grabs 2nd place finish at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg despite no radio
ST. PETERSBURG, FL (March 2, 2025) – Scott Dixon has some pretty incredible accomplishments in his 25-year INDYCAR career but finishing second in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg despite losing radio communication with his team may be the most incredible.
“I’m pretty pissed off,” fumed Dixon, a six-time series Champion. “”It’s the first time I’ve ever done a whole race without a radio, so that was interesting. We had a good race going and we didn’t get it done. So it doesn’t feel good, that’s for sure.”
Imagine racing in the most competitive form or motorsports, in a concrete canyon using only your mirrors and the data on your dash.
“Kind of worked on the warm-up laps and kind of for the first 10 and that was about it,” explained Dixon about the radio issue.
The No. 9 PNC Bank Honda timing stand on pit road could only hear Dixon sometimes according to team owner Chip Ganassi.
“It was intermittent,” explained Ganassi. “Sometimes you got it, sometimes you didn’t.”
Not knowing key information to make decisions in the cockpit isn’t something that any modern day race driver wants to deal with.
“It’s nice in the race, right, just to understand who’s doing what, what strategy everybody is on,” explained Dixon. “I think when I caught Rossi and maybe Lundgaard, I kept trying to ask, how many laps have they got to go before we can get some clean air and kind of push because it’s very tough to just get a pass going here.”
Street circuits are notoriously tough to pass on so strategy often comes into play as teams try to ‘undercut’ (pit early) or ‘overcut’ (stay out long) to gain track position.
Dixon was leading the race, didn’t know what strategy his competitors were on; didn’t know who was up ahead unless he could see them and in the end didn’t have communication from his pit stand to come in a lap earlier for his final pit stop because of traffic.
“Ultimately cost us the race, I think, with not coming in when I should have,” said Dixon. “I caught about five or six cars on my in-lap. I think I lost about two or three seconds just on my in-lap. They (10 car) did the right thing; they could see the traffic coming. I had no communication, so didn’t know.”
Team owner Chip Ganassi said Dixon would’ve been on the top step of the podium if not for the issue.
“Well, if everything was 100 percent, he would have won — it was simple,” said Ganassi. “He would have won the race. The race was over. It was one stop to go, and we pitted a lap later than we wanted him to. That was the race. That was the difference between he and Palou.”
“Glad we got some good points and a nice one-two for the team,” said Dixon.
Palou leads the Championship by 10-points over Dixon as the NTT INDYCAR SERIES takes a few weeks off before the next race at The Thermal Club on March 23, 2025.
ST. PETERSBURG, FL (March 2, 2028) – Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou is starting off the 2025 campaign the same way he started off his 2021 Championship season by winning the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season opening race, only this time it was the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
“Couldn’t be happier,” said Palou, who started eighth. “I wanted to be here in Victory Lane, but I did not expect maybe to be here in Victory Lane. That shows the amazing job that all the men and women did at Chip Ganassi Racing during the off-season.”
Palou was running second behind teammate Scott Dixon when his No. 10 DHL Honda crew called him into the pits for his final service of the day on Lap 71. Dixon came into the pits on the next lap and following that service the No. PNC Bank Honda returned to the track behind Palou.
“I’m pretty pissed off,” said a frustrated Dixon. “I had no radio, so I had no way to communicate with the team. I just came into the pits when the fuel light came one, but got caught behind some traffic on that lap and those two or three seconds ultimately cost us the race.”
Josef Newgarden passed Dixon going into Turn 1 on Lap 74 but Dixon was able to get back by Newgarden on the white flag lap to secure CGR’s first 1-2 finish since July 2023 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
“Happy for Chip, happy for the team,” said Dixon. “Kudos to Alex and the guys on the 10-car for getting it done.”
“I’m really happy with what the team did over the off-season, and we came back with competitive cars,” explained Ganassi. “I think if you saw how we ran here the last number of years, it wasn’t great. It was okay, we hung on, but we were clearly being beat by some of the other teams, and that wasn’t the case this weekend. So it was nice.”
Newgarden finished third in the No. 2 PPG Chevy followed by his Team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin, who started from the pole position. Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood rounded out the Top 5.
The race was mostly a green-flag race except for Lap 1 when Team Penske’s Will Power got into the back of Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel who collected Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Louis Foster in the melee.
Palou leads the Championship standings by 10 over Dixon, with Newgarden and McLaughlin 15-points back as the series heads to The Thermal Club for race 2 on March 23, 2025.
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