Team owner Chip Ganassi was straight and to the point Tuesday morning when discussing the disappointment in his organization’s 2011 performance.
Ganassi opened his session of the Media Tour on Tuesday by thanking the media in attendance and saying, “I hope it’s the last time I have to say we finished 21st and 27th in points last year.”
The 2010 season was a benchmark for the organization, in which Jamie McMurray won three races, including the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400, and Juan Pablo Montoya went to Victory Lane at Watkins Glen.
The 2011 season, however was a much different story. Collectively, the pair scored only four top-five and 12 top-10 finishes, never went to Victory Lane and were never a factor in the Chase discussion.
“It’s pretty obvious what spurred (the changes),” Ganassi said. “We were 21st and 27th in the points. That’s pathetic for a team with our ability and our resources.”
During the off-season, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing underwent a host of major changes within the shop, which saw long-time team manager Tony Glover, competition director Steve Hmiel, and lead engineer Ed Natham released from the team. EGR brought in John Probst to fill the role of head engineer on the team in October, while Max Jones was hired in December to become the new team manager. In addition, Chris Heroy, formerly with Hendrick Motorsports, was hired as crew chief for Montoya’s No. 42 team.
“I think we’ve got the right people, I know it’s very early, but you can see the changes,” Montoya said. “You can see there’s a direction moving forward. The team is heading somewhere that is good.”
Ganassi was clear that if the changes made during the off-season do not produce the desired results, more changes were possible down the road. Team co-owner Felix Sabates pointed out the changes will not produce results right away, but said both the No. 1 and the No. 42 teams need to be strong right out of the gate and assess their program by the fourth race of the year.
“One of the problems we’ve had in the past, was we kept people too long,” Sabates said. “That’s not going to happen again.”
According to Sabates, the turning point last year came when Montoya struggled on the road course at Sonoma in June and finished 22nd. For McMurray, the frustrations culminated in May or June when he and Montoya collectively went to their team owner to voice their concerns.
“It’s really hard as a driver to go into someone like Chip and say, ‘Hey, this is what we think is wrong,’ because we’re not there every day,” McMurray said. “When drivers go and complain, a lot of what they’re complaining about is what people are telling them at the track.”
However, for Ganassi, that timing was simply a culmination of driver feedback, poor results and frustration.
“When you have a year like we had last year, you obviously have to make big changes,” Ganassi said. “You look from time to time at yourself and at your management team, the way you’re operating and you try to weigh all factors. I don’t know when it actually hit me, per say, but when it did hit me my mind was made up. Once I made the decision in my own mind, it didn’t take long to carry it out.”
Crew chief Kevin ‘Bono’ Manion explained the entire team has a new look to it, as well as a new approach to building cars in the shop. Much like Sabates, Manion believes the changes currently taking place in the shop will not produce results for “six to eight months.”
“I think we’ve got the right people, I know it’s very early, but you can see the changes,” Montoya said. “You can see there’s a direction moving forward. The team is heading somewhere that is good.”
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