Honda wooing Chip Ganassi Racing?

Chip Ganassi

AutoRacing1 is not at Sonoma Raceway for today's IndyCar test. However, our sources at Sonoma tell us Honda officials spent some time today speaking with one Chip Ganassi.

As you likely know, Honda and Chip Ganassi Racing have combined to form one of the storied partnerships in Indy Car racing history. Amongst other achievements, the collaboration has produced three Indianapolis 500 victories, and nine Indy Car championships. Most recently, Scott Dixon won the 2013 Verizon IndyCar Series championship with Honda power, before Ganassi switched to Chevy prior to the 2014 season.

And despite whatever anyone said publicly, it was well known that the divorce wasn't exactly, amicable. Ganassi famously used the term "kum ba yah" to describe Honda's efforts at St. Petersburg in 2013.

Scott Dixon celebrating his 2013 championship with Honda's Art St. Cyr

However, a lot has changed in the past two years. Honda struggled relative to Chevrolet in both 2013 and 2014, and now finds their lead team Andretti Autosport mired in at least a small degree of uncertainty. Ganassi also lost one car's worth of support from longtime backer Target this past offseason.

With Honda looking to restructure and Ganassi not enjoying the same level of sponsorship from previous seasons, could this be the ideal time for the proud manufacturer and iconic team to bury the hatchet and rekindle what was in racing terms, a fairytale romance?

Furthermore, one cannot ponder the intrigue of Ganassi and Honda meeting without asking: does young Josef Newgarden fit into this puzzle somewhere? Newgarden, of course, has been linked with a move from CFH Racing to Ganassi, and it is well known the 24-year-old Tennessee native is a favorite of Honda. Could Honda be trying to get Newgarden to Ganassi as part of a package deal, and restructured assault?

Hard to say. But given recent developments, and given the less-than-friendly divorce between Ganassi and Honda two years ago, it's hard to imagine the two were just catching up on old times or sampling some of the local varietals. And while these two getting together doesn't for now at least, give us any answers, it certainly prompts more than a few intriguing questions.

What will all come of it? Stay tuned to AutoRacing1.

Brian Carroccio reporting for AutoRacing1