by Holly Cain

Filed under: Jamie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, NASCAR

SPEEDWAY, Ind. -- Soaked in champagne and still grinning from ear to ear, NASCAR team owner Chip Ganassi was walking over to a Corvette convertible for his second victory lap around Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the last two months when Tony Stewart stopped him in his tracks.

They shook hands, shared a laugh and Stewart, NASCAR's only owner-driver, patted Ganassi on the back, offering his congratulations.

"That was a moment between car owners,'' Sunday's fifth-place finisher Stewart said with a smile and a nod. "Can I appreciate what he's done here? Oh yeah.''

What he's done is make history as the first team owner in auto racing history to win the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR's Brickyard 400 at Indy in the same season. But it came with a twist.

One of Ganassi's drivers, Juan Pablo Montoya, dominated practice, qualifying and most of the early race until crashing with 15 laps to go Sunday while his other driver, Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray beat Kevin Harvick on the ensuing re-start, held off the field for 11 laps and ultimately delivered the triumph to Ganassi instead.

In all, Ganassi drivers led a race-best 102 of the event's 160 laps, but McMurray's 16 laps out front (including five earlier in the day) is the second fewest ever for a winner. Not that it matters.

"To win all those (races) in one year is remarkable,'' Harvick said of Ganassi's organization. "It will probably never happen again.''

Chip Ganassi Makes More Racing History at Indianapolis originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 25 Jul 2010 20:19:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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