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.
DETROIT, MI (June 1, 2025) – Kyle Kirkwood is the winner of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. The win was Kirkwood’s second of the season and fourth of his career.
Kirkwood started third on the grid and moved up to second early in the race and took advantage to grab the lead from teammate Colton Herta who finished third.
“This AWS Honda was on rails all weekend long,” said Kirkwood. “There were some challenges out there, that’s for sure. We had to pass our way back through a handful of times, and it was definitely not a walk in the park.”
This 100-lap race on the notoriously bumpy and tight nine-turn, 1.645-mile circuit on the streets of downtown Detroit came down to strategy and survival.
The 27-car field divided into two strategic camps at the start, with 12 cars beginning the race on Firestone’s grippier but less durable Firehawk alternate tires and 15 on the slower but more durable primary tires. The top nine starters, which included pole sitter Herta and teammate Kirkwood, opted to start on the softer alternate tire and shed it as soon as possible for the durability of the harder tire. INDYCAR rules require that all drivers must use both tire compounds for at least two laps per race.
That divided the field into separate pit cycles, with drivers on both strategies being forced to fight their way through the field after each stop while waiting for drivers on alternative tactics to pit.
The win has Honda Racing’s seventh of the season, continuing a season-long lockout of victories among engine manufacturers and gave Honda a weekend sweep after their Acura brand won the IMSA race on Saturday in the Motor City.
“ Amazing weekend for Honda, HRC, and also Acura,” said Kevin Fu, Vice President, Honda Racing Corporation USA. “Between our IndyCar and IMSA programs we got two poles and two wins in Detroit, and our seventh victory in a row in IndyCar. This is unprecedented start to the season for us. As always, thanks to the teams and all the folks back at HRC in Santa Clarita for all their continuous hard work, and the work they’ve done off season to get us to this point.”
The win moved Kirkwood up to second in the Championship points standings, 78-points behind leader Alex Palou, who was taken out by David Malukas going into Turn 1 on a restart.
AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci came home second for his best career finish and the team’s best finish of the season and best road or street course finish in a decade.
“It feels great,” said Ferrucci. “Honestly, the strategy plays into everything that we do, especially at road and street courses it’s very tough, and I can’t thank the team enough. This is more deserving of them than it is even of me. We probably drove to 11th minus the strategy just running our race.”
Team Penske’s Will Power finished fourth in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet followed by Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson in fifth. The fifth place finish was a career best for Simpson, the second-year driver from the Cayman Islands.
“It was a great, great race for us in the #8 Ridgeline Honda,” said Simpson. “I think we had a lot of pace, especially when running on the green tires, and we were able to really make strong gains through the field on that strategy.”
The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES event is the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline on Sunday evening, June 15 at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis.
DETROIT, MI (June 1, 2025) Alex Palou’s race on the streets of Detroit is over early after contact on a restart from David Malkus sent the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda into the tire barriers at the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.
The Indianapolis 500 winner was running fourth on Lap 72 when the race restarted following a caution and entering Turn 1, Malukas came in too fast, made contact with Palou ending his day and his almost perfect season.
Palou came into the race with five wins in six event with a worst finish of second at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Detroit ended that streak and Palou was credited with a 25th place finish.
“We were just biding our time there in fourth,” explained Palou. “Hoping to sneak onto the podium there at the end but we were hit from behind. Not much we could do there.”
Palou came into the race with a 112-point lead in the season long Championship over Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward.
DETROIT, MI (May 31, 2025) – Andretti Global’s Colton Herta is on the pole position for Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, the 1.645-mile, nine-turn temporary street course run on the streets of downtown Detroit.
Herta’s fast lap of 1 minute, .4779 of a second in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda was good enough to claim his first pole of 2025 and 15th of his NTT INDYCAR SERIES career.
“I was happy with it,” said Herta. “Friday was pretty bad from us as far as what we’re used to on street courses, just the feel of the race car. So it kind of — Friday night to go over everything and turn everything around. The engineering group did a great job.”
David Malukas, coming off a strong finish at the Indy 500, continued the momentum grabbing the second starting spot at 1:00.6492 in the No. 4 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet for A.J. Foyt Enterprises.
“Everything just clicked,” said Malukas. “We kept our heads down and just committed. I thought we had a good car, and clearly it went out and showed that.”
Herta’s teammate Kyle Kirkwood lines up third after a fast lap of 1:00.7312 in the No. 27 Siemens AWS Honda. Kirkwood led practice Friday, while Herta paced the Saturday morning practice session.
Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard will start beside Kirkwood in the fourth position after a quick lap of 1:00.8938 in the No. 7 Chevrolet.
Rahal Letterman Laningan Racing’s Graham Rahal will start fifth after posting a 1:01.0651 in the No. 15 JJ Curran Crane Company Honda.
Lining up beside Rahal will be Championship points leader and 109th Indianapolis 500 winner Alex Palou who put up a 1:01.4680 in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Palou, who’s won five of the six races this year, holds a 112-point lead over Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, who will start 18th after failing to advance out of the first round of knockout-style qualifying.
Palou’s CGR teammate Scott Dixon qualified 10th in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda after turning a 1:01:1595.
Dixon and Rahal however will have those qualifying efforts nullified after being penalized for unapproved engine changes prior to the Sunday, May 25 race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Rahal and Dixon will receive a six-position starting grid penalty for violating the INDYCAR rule. Rahal now rolls off 11th and Dixon 16th.
The 100-lap race starts Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET (FOX, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio Network).
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