Ganassi-Waltrip merger?

UPDATE #2 The hottest rumor floating around the Cup garage this weekend [at New Hampshire] is that Chip Ganassi still is trying to make a deal with another team to keep himself in NASCAR. This week it was supposedly an arrangement with Michael Waltrip Racing, which would expand to four cars and put Montoya in a Toyota. Yahoo Sports

08/06/08 Juan Pablo Montoya's "Chase or Bust" year that team owner Chip Ganassi proclaimed before the season has gone bust. Pocono, for instance, is likely to not be remembered very fondly by the No. 42 team. On Sunday Montoya started 13th but almost immediately fell a lap down when he had to pit because of a loose plug wire. He worked his way back through the field but his engine blew on lap 146. He ended up 40th and fell three places in the standings to 25th. At Indy he was an early casualty of the Trail of Tattered Tires.

Toyota likes Montoya, both winning a lot of races together in CART. Perhaps there is more to the Breakfast Summit at Daytona — where Ganassi and partner Felix Sabates broke bread with Cal Wells and Rob Kauffman of Michael Waltrip Racing .

The breakfast sparked a torrent of speculation about Ganassi and Waltrip forming one four-car team and Ganassi switching to Toyota. That makes sense on many levels. The best employees from both teams can be retained and the deadwood dropped. Four car teams have more setup data to share, Toyota avoids having to drop the Waltrip team and they get to keep Montoya

07/26/08 Car owner Chip Ganassi pulled the plug on Franchitti's team a month ago, in a shocker that left 71 people without jobs. That move by Ganassi has led to intense speculation about Ganassi's NASCAR future. Some of that speculation includes the possibility of some merger between Ganassi and the Michael Waltrip operation, which is also struggling and may be down to one sponsor next season for that three-car operation. Winston Salem Journal