Earnhardt-Ganassi elects to stay with Chevrolet for 2011
There had been a lot of speculation lately if Earnhardt-Ganassi -- the team that fields cars for Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya -- would be switching to Ford. According to Lee Spencer of Fox Sports, EGR employees were informed at a lunch Wednesday celebrating McMurray's Charlotte win that the team would be staying with Chevrolet.
Earnhardt Ganassi Racing will continue its relationship with General Motors and Earnhardt Childress Racing Technologies.
At a lunch on Wednesday celebrating Jamie McMurray’s win at Charlotte Motor Speedway, employees were told of the decision.
Team owner Chip Ganassi began his NASCAR venture under the Dodge banner. Juan Pablo Montoya’s victory at Infineon Raceway in 2007 ended a five-year winless drought for the organization.
Talks between EGR and Ford reportedly made substantial progress, but ultimately failed. A big hurdle would obviously be the partnership between EGR and Richard Childress Racing on the Earnhardt-Childress engine program. Cars with ECR engines -- McMurray at the Daytona 500, Kevin Harvick at Talladega in the spring and Daytona in the summer and Clint Bowyer on Sunday -- won all four restrictor plate races this season.
Plus, how weird would it have been to see the Earnhardt name associated with Ford? That would have come as a culture shock to many NASCAR fans.
