Since 2011, Chip Ganssi Racing has brought at least four cars to the Indianapolis 500 – they even brought five cars in 2015.
However, with incumbents Max Chilton and Charlie Kimball departing for the newly formed Carlin Racing, the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season sees Ganassi only fielding two cars for Scott Dixon and Ed Jones.
And with the team opting not to field extra entries for the 102nd Indianapolis 500 Presented by PennGrade Motor Oil, its two-car assault will be left to contend with a four-car effort from Team Penske and a six-car effort from Andretti Autosport.
Even teams like Dale Coyne Racing and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports are bigger in numbers this year – Coyne with four entries, SPM with three (and a fourth in a partnership with Meyer Shank Racing).
Still, despite being down on size in comparison to previous years, the Ganassi effort is no less potent.
Scott Dixon was last year’s pole sitter, and with the fastest speeds turned in since 1996 – Dixon’s pole run came in at 232.164 mph.
And Ed Jones was no slouch either, qualifying 11th for Coyne and finishing third, despite suffering a damaged nose late in the race.
Still, while both impressed last year, they will look for better race results this year. Dixon led early and was running in the Top 5 before his infamous airborne crash after colliding with Jay Howard.
Jones, meanwhile, was somewhat frustrated in that he felt his No. 19 Honda was good enough to win if not for the aforementioned damage.
In short, even though it’s only two cars, Ganassi’s effort is no less stronger.
Tuesday’s practice was somewhat of a mixed bag for Dixon and Jones, however. While Dixon ranked second behind Marco Andretti, Jones was down in 27th, and 18th in the non-tow ranks.
Dixon’s non-tow lap was actually even slower, as he was 26th on the non-tow board.
However, the 2008 Indy 500 winner was not concerned.
“Not a bad day (on Tuesday),” said Dixon after Tuesday’s practice. “We worked on a number of things with the PNC Bank car. One of the most important was running in traffic out there with some other cars. We’ll get as much data as we can from those runs today, take a look at what we find and then apply it to the next steps for preparing the car for the race.”
He also explained in the post-practice press conference that a two-car effort is a little more challenging than their four-car efforts, in terms of gathering data, but also asserted that the working relationship with Jones is a positive one, even while Jones is still getting up to speed with the Ganassi team.
“It’s been good. (Ed) is super laid back and good to work with,” said Dixon. “I think on this combination (of only two cars), it’s a little more difficult. Ed is trying to get up to speed with our package and our car. They’ve tried some interesting stuff.”
Jones explained that his Tuesday struggles came as he and the team tried to find a perfect balance on his No. 10 NTT Data Honda, and that they will look to find more speed on Thursday and Friday.
“I wouldn’t say I was 100 percent happy with the NTT DATA car today. We’re continuing to focus and work on the balance of the car. That’s really the main thing. There are so many variables and things to try to make it fast, and we have quite a bit of practice time here before next week. We’ll just keep trying to improve the car and try things out to be ready for qualifying this weekend.”
Practice for the 102nd Indy 500 continues on Wednesday.
