Grand American Rolex

Everyone at Chip Ganassi Racing knew coming into the season that if we wanted to win a championship for the #01 TELMEX Lexus that were going to have to beat the #99 and the #10. The season was starting with a clean slate, everyone dead-even.

Today, we go into these final three races still knowing that we have to beat the #99 and the #10 and for the most part, we’re still almost dead-even. After racing in 90-degree heat (seemingly half the races on the schedule), a virtual monsoon (New Jersey) and races that have lasted everywhere from two hours to 24, we have just a four-point lead over the Gainsco guys in the #99 and a 14-point lead over the Sun Trust guys in the #10.

These last three races are really going to be interesting and a great test for each of the teams in the hunt. You probably couldn’t have found three more different types of tracks and in three different sets of conditions. This week, we head north to Quebec, Canada, on a track that features a lot of stop-and-go type racing. Forecasts are for the upper 60s and maybe rain on race day. Then it’s off to the high-desert at Miller Motorsports Park out in Utah, where it’s predominantly long fast sweepers and the weather’s usually hot during the day and cold at night, and, finally, we finish down at Homestead, on an infield road-course that uses a part of the oval track and I’d expect it to be well into the 80s even in October.

One of the challenges of this weekend’s race will be in running a two-hour event. These types of races bring a lot more luck and strategy into play and it often becomes a fuel race as we saw last year. We’ve raced there twice so far and each time we’ve finished fifth. I’m not sure we can afford to finish that low this year.

Up to this point, we’ve been doing what we need to do – finishing on the podium five times in the last six races. We need to keep that up, but there’s an awfully thin line between racing for a top-finish and not taking chances to potentially throw away a championship – that’s something we can’t afford to do. Right now, we’re just doing everything we can to get every point we can. Both our #01 TELMEX Lexus and the #99 have opened up a little bit of a gap on the #10 car, but we know if we have a problem that can go away in a hurry.

We’re racing on Saturday this year rather than Friday as we have the past two years. That should provide a terrific setting. The Montreal fans are both knowledgeable and passionate about racing and they always have a great crowd. With the championship as tight as it is, it’s going to be pressure-packed and a lot of fun.

I’ll let you know how we fared next Monday.