Ganassi may let McMurray go early.

[BobbyFord]

CONCORD, N.C. -- Chip Ganassi has softened his stance regarding driver Jamie McMurray, who wants out of his contract so he can drive for Roush Racing.

McMurray signed a contract in July to drive for Roush beginning in 2007, hoping that the early announcement would force Ganassi to let him leave at the end of this year. Ganassi steadfastly refused to even negotiate an early release.



Inside the Numbers
Jamie McMurray's Cup stats
Category Career 2005

Starts 108 30
Wins 1 0
Top-5 19 4
Top-10 46 8
DNF 14 3
Poles 2 1
Avg. Start 17.6 20.3
Avg. Finish 16.4 17.1


But Friday, Ganassi sounded a little bit more flexible about finding a solution.

"There are no talks at this time, but there could be if someone came to me with a solution," Ganassi said. "I need a solution, not a pile of money. I need a driver to replace Jamie."

The McMurray situation got complicated when Kurt Busch said he was leaving Roush to drive for Penske Racing in 2007. Penske has an opening next season in the No. 2 Dodge because Rusty Wallace is retiring and would like to put Busch in the car right away.

But Roush will not let Busch leave because it would give him two holes to fill: Busch's ride, plus the seat McMurray was supposed to fill upon Mark Martin's retirement.

It was believed Roush and Penske were trying to work out a deal, but any solutions would likely have to include Ganassi giving McMurray an early release.

"Look, I am not going to be Jack Roush or Roger Penske's whipping boy," Ganassi said. "I'm the end of the line on this thing and I'm trying to put together my team, too."

Ganassi is expanding to four teams next season, bringing Busch Series drivers Reed Sorenson and David Stremme up to Nextel Cup as teammates to Casey Mears and McMurray. If he allows McMurray to leave early, he'll have to scramble to find a suitable replacement for the No. 42 Dodge.

If nothing changes, Martin has indicated he will postpone retirement and drive one more season for Roush in the No. 6 Ford. If that happens, Roush said he'd likely put McMurray in Busch's seat (assuming Busch stays through 2006) and move Todd Kluever up to Martin's ride in 2007.

Penske would still be in a bind, needing to find a one-year seat filler until Busch was clear to join the team.

 

[steveluvs3]

Ya think? It's all about them benjamin's baby.

 

[N2racin44]

Ganassi needs to get a head start on the 3 team cap limit and cut the 4th car he is supposed to run next year. Suppose that would piss a sponsor off and he'd flush some money down the drain but I am sure that if Jamie runs in a Ganassi car next year he will not be happy which to me will lead him to be aggressive and try things in the race car that he knows he will not be driving much longer.

 

[barelypure]

If the cars are changing for 07 to this boxier version we're hearing about and that the team number is going to be limited to 4 in 07 and possible 3 after that you'd think they would save a lot of money by not having to build all of these new cars in 06 and go with a smaller team. Ganassi remaining at 3, Roush cutting back to 4 and Penske finding someone for Rusty's car. Then again what do I know?

 

[kat2220]

Mark has already said he will be back in '06 to help Jack in the transition, but I don't understand why things can't be worked out amicably except for the egos involved.

 

[Kyle48]

If I was an owner, especially in Roush or Hendrick's shoes here's a plan a buddy and I were discussing that sounds plausable;

We own a five car team, NASCAR has said we can run the 'car of tomorrow' this year because we're in on the developmental deal. We take two of our cars (in Roush's case probably the 6 and 17; Hendrick, the 5 and 44) and those two cars run the new body in '06. Yes they'll be at a distinct disadvantage in '06, and yes the sponsors will squirm, but at the beginning of '07, at Daytona, when all these other teams have had some tests in '06, and the winter - we've got a season plus the off-season of running these cars.

The teams get cut to 4, we keep all the test info, and I beleive you'd have the top four cars at Daytona in February.

Just a thought, but the jump they're looking at is phenominal.

- K y l e