Montoya pissed with Ganassi, will he quit?
"Preposterous," says Dodge's Mike Accavitti. As if Accavitti is going to say anything. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised that when asked by a reporter last week, it was the first Accavitti had heard about it and was caught off guard when asked.
Ganassi's NASCAR operations have been in turmoil since the start of the season and there are no signs that things are getting any better. A failed deal to bring in a wealthy partner and the prospect of losing a good deal of Target dollars next season have to be a bit unsettling.
It wouldn't be too far of a stretch for Ganassi to just say "been there, done that" and head back to racing in the IRL full time, with three cars. After all, his Indy car organization is arguably the best American open wheel team in the past two decades, so why not go where you've had the most success and build upon it?
Having Ganassi focus full time on his IRL operations would also help put the pieces of that Humpty Dumpty of a series back together again. And I doubt Ganassi would care for more than ten minutes about what people will say when and if he does pack it up from NASCAR and head where the getting is good.
I wonder how much Montoya's contract is worth? And where does he head? Lots of people say the 20 car at Joe Gibbs Racing. Yahoo! Sports
05/24/08 Juan Pablo Montoya posted the second slowest qualifying lap out of 48 entries and dejectedly climbed from his car. “What did you expect?" he asked. “Seriously, what did you expect?"
Montoya is still reeling from the midweek firing of Jimmy Elledge, a personnel decision that’s given the former Formula One driver his third crew chief in a month. Frustrated that his opposition to the dismissal went unheeded, Montoya is now worried that his team is ill-prepared for Sunday’s race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
Because new crew chief Brian Pattie had just two days to dissect Elledge’s setup on the No. 42 Dodge, changes were made on the fly during a difficult Thursday practice session that saw Montoya post the 45th slowest speed. It didn’t improve during qualifying, when Montoya was 47th out of 48 cars and will start next-to-last in the Coca-Cola 600. Team owner Chip Ganassi sympathizes with Montoya’s frustration, but said Elledge’s dismissal was warranted after the crew chief engaged in a heated argument with competition director Steve Hmiel during last week’s All-Star race.
“We had an employee step over the line, and I’m sorry it happened because I like Jimmy personally, but it had to be done," Ganassi said. “I know Juan is upset and he comes out on the short end of this deal. I apologize for that, but unfortunately it was unavoidable collateral damage."
Elledge declined to comment on his dismissal, but Montoya has been vocal in his opposition of the decision. Elledge had only been atop his pit box for four races, dating back to an earlier crew chief swap that sent Donnie Wingo over to Reed Sorenson’s slumping team. ESPN.com
[Editor's Note: How much longer before Montoya looks to leave the Ganassi team? Face it. History has shown they only win a rare race here or there and that is not what drives Montoya. If he isn't winning on a regular basis he will look for a way out. If Montoya cannot win for Ganassi on a regular basis, no one can. This isn't the first time Montoya and Ganassi have had a clash in management decisions. When Montoya drove for Ganassi's CART team, they had control and management issues resulting in periods when Montoya would not speak to Chip at all. If Montoya didn't like the calls Ganassi made during a test session, he would park the car wasting valuable track time. Juan even declined to sign autographs for sponsors because he was so upset with Chip's management style.]