Overheard at Chicagoland – Sunday 2

UPDATE The part of this rumor about Franchitti taking over for Wheldon at Surfers in the No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car is upgraded to 'fact' with today's announcement.

09/07/08 We hear that the AGR team is working hard to keep their ALMS program going if sponsorship can be found……Word in the paddock is that Jimmy Vasser is working hard to keep the exact same driver lineup and pretty much the same personnel lineup in the KV Racing Technology team for next year. They have not won any races yet this year yet but they have been fairly competitive. We hear in the off-season they have some aero and mechanical R&D planned in an effort to catch up to the established IRL teams…..When asked about putting Dario Franchitti in Dan Wheldon's seat for this year's Surfers race, Chip Ganassi told AR1.com "It would be nice if we can make that happen, since he will be driving that car next year. We are working on it."……We hear that Jay Howard has a couple of sponsors lined up for 2009 but it is not enough for a full year yet. He prefers to stay in IndyCar but would consider ALMS or Grand-Am if nothing pans out in IndyCar. Mark C. reporting from Chicago