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Dario Loses Cup Ride

Ganassi shuts down 40 team today. 70 employees laid off. Should of stayed in IndyCar. AGR still needs a driver for the ALMS car to partner with Montagny. Hmmmmm......

Tags: http://nascar.speedtv.com/article/cup-ganassi-closing-no-40-team/

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Permalink Reply by joey kowailw on July 1, 2008 at 8:56pm

i doubt it. i think his pride might keep him in nascar. the alms was supposed to be his berth until marco took him out at sears point.

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Permalink Reply by xorpheous on July 2, 2008 at 8:30am

If Dario goes to Penske it will be to drive the ALMS LPM2 car. I can't see that happening either, though. He's been more successful in the NNS, and he'll be running there throughout the rest of the season. If it works out well for him, perhaps he'll have more luck securing sponsorship during the fall for 2009.

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Permalink Reply by Christy on July 2, 2008 at 12:38pm

According to Chip Ganassi/Felix Sebates' myspace page...they are hoping to put Dario in the number 40 Fastenal car in the Nationwide Series for the remainder of the year. I can see Dario driving in the ALMS series w/ his brother..but I will go out on a limb here and say that I will be SUPER SHOCKED if he EVER drives for AGR again.... that was just not a pretty parting of the ways the last half of the season...bad blood there on both sides.... I think a third Target IRL car would be better suited for him and the series...(hey I can dream cant I ) :)

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Permalink Reply by xorpheous on July 2, 2008 at 4:25pm

Actually, now that I've been thinking about this for a while, I wonder if he may be a third driver in GrandAm with Pruitt and Rojas for some of the longer races. Then he stays with Cheap, but gets to race using a style he's far more suited to.

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Permalink Reply by joey kowailw on July 2, 2008 at 6:26pm

i think the end of the day the whole thing didn't suit him. he's in his mid to late 30's he's been driving light and quick direction changing machines all his life. to go a heavy slow reacting machine is something that take years to learn. ganassi's nascar team has won 2 races in like 8 years, he has a young inexperienced guy who has known nothing but bad cup cars and a guy trying to do the same as him. the nail in the coffin for his cup carear was not qualifying at sears point. really does that help his reputation or attracting a sponsor. here is a guy who road raced all his life and he can't get a car into that race? indycar is struggling for sponsors and even nascar finds it hard. how do you sell a driver and team who have no wins, no top 5's, no top 10's and even top 20's? this was as much as a performance related as it was money.