1on1: Chip Ganassi (cont'd)

Q: What's your take on the way Reed Sorenson early this season?

Ganassi: I think we've seen a maturation process in that guy over the winter and he's stepped up. I think part of that is having Juan as a teammate last year has helped him step up. I think bringing Dario on has helped him step up.

He's stepping up. He's doing what we've asked him and what we want him to do. He's doing exactly what we want him to do. We couldn't be happier.

Q: Why do you think Reed has matured?

Ganassi: That's a good question. I don't have the answer to that. I don't know what it was, because if I knew what it was I would have done it a lot sooner I can tell you that. Or I would have given it to him a lot sooner, whatever it was.

Different people are on what I call the performance treadmill. People are just on different angles and different speeds with their treadmill. They all get there eventually, some sooner than others. I'm just happy to see that Reed had a good offseason in that regard.

Q: What shows that on the track?

Ganassi: You never know. I was talking to Reed the other day about this and a lot of times you could say that he's the same guy and our cars have gotten better. You'd be surprised; when you have a good car it's a hell of a lot easier to look good.

Good cars make people look good, but just in his driving style I've seen some moves that I haven't seen before -- or a level of, I don't want to say aggressiveness, but a level of determination that I haven't seen before."

Q: You've won championships in several forms of racing, except NASCAR. So is that a testament to how difficult it is, and is it one of your goals to be the first to succeed in North America's three main forms of racing?

Ganassi: I certainly see it as a goal. Yes, I certainly want to be the first to do it. Yeah, that's a goal."

Q: Does all the attention given to Hendrick and Gibbs eat at you a little bit?

Ganassi: No, I think it's kind of good because it takes the focus off. I'm glad that it takes the focus off of us and you can let us get some work done and not have the scrutiny of you [media] guys.

You're over there talking to those guys and you might not be looking at us that close. That's fine. I'm glad. It's fun to work when the spotlight is on you, but it's easier to work when it's on someone else. You'll focus on me at the appropriate time I'm sure.

Q: Does it matter to you when NASCAR makes the move to the new chassis in the Nationwide Series?

Ganassi: It's going to be interesting this year to see how it pans out. For the last few years it seems like the Nationwide Series was a test for the Cup Series because the cars were similar. You're going to see this year that with the cars being so different how that works.

Is the Nationwide Series going to be as interesting as it was in the past? Some drivers looked at that like they were here on Saturday already, and it was a learning experience for Sunday. Some drivers looked at it as a way to put some extra money in their pocket. Some drivers looked at it as a way to get their own little team started.

It's going to be interesting to see if the Nationwide Series is ever going to be more than a Saturday warm-up for Sunday. Can it break off on its own? Again, these are questions to ask NASCAR.

Q: Can you convert your fleet to a new chassis by next year or would you like to see it phased-in, as it was in the Cup Series?

Ganassi: We're in a period now where sponsorship is tight, so I don't think the owners are looking for any more projects that they have to swallow like a COT Nationwide. You can't swallow those kinds of things easily.

It's no coincidence that the announcement of COT in Cup and the injection of outside money into the sport [came at the same time]. That's no coincidence.

Q: Where are you on getting a full season of sponsorship for Dario Franchitti's No. 40 Dodge?

Ganassi: We're piecing it together. We are happy where we are and what we've accomplished in a difficult market. We have every intention of being there and running it, so we're probably a third to a half of the way there right now.

Q: Is NASCAR still a good buy for sponsors?

Ganassi: One of the things that my sales people are telling me is the difference is, we are not losing sponsors to other teams -- we are losing them to them not being in the sport. We're not losing them to Hendrick or Roush or anybody.

I'm not the sales guy so it's hard for me to talk about that, but I can tell you that it's a difficult sales market right now.

Q: Where are you with bringing international sponsors into the sport?

Ganassi: It's a building-block process. Any time you are talking about the kinds of numbers that we're talking about in Cup these days -- you're talking about big numbers. The bigger the numbers the longer the time it takes to put a deal together. That's just a fact of life. You know, we're not talking about $500,000 sponsorships. (Continued)