Ganassi poaches driver from Gibbs

[KC]

In the paddock at the Chili Bowl this weekend, rumors buzzed around that Jason Leffler, currently driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Busch Grand National series was moving up to Winston Cup. That has bene announced today as he will drive for Chip Ganassi in his Dodge cup car in 2001. Apparently Joe Gibbs was quite upset at this and it is not known if Ganassi bought out Leffler's contract which had 1 year remaining.

[Joe Fan]

Gibbs has every right to be upset because he gave Jason his shot at stock car racing running in an ARCA car at Atlanta in 1999 as well as a full-time BGN ride last year. Then for another owner to come along an take him away, I would be upset too. Jason came from the open wheel ranks so Gibbs should get to see his investment pay off in stock cars.

However, from Jason's vantage point, he was going to end up running in BGN again this year if it weren't for Ganassi. I am happy for Jason but I am not sure that he is totally ready for Cup racing just yet. He has definately got the talent to be a great driver but other than a few flashes here and there in BGN last year, he didn't really perform up to the level I expected that he would. Therefore, I feel he needed one more year of BGN.

[Lee]

I agree with Joe Fan, Leffler is not ready for Winston Cup competition. His performance in the Busch Series has been, at best, underwhelming! Additionally, he, and Ganassi have just made an extreamly bad move, one that puts them both in the same bad light that Cal Wells put himself in last year! Both have angered one of the most respected owners in the Winston Cup Series, by underhanded dealings, and this won't sit well in the Winston Cup Garage Area! Leffler could have very well just got himself "blackballed" for future rides, by gaining a reputation on not being trustworthy. Gibbs expended quite a bit of time, and money setting up the Busch team, and prepairing to groom Leffler for Winston Cup. Leaving Gibbs to read about his deal with Ganassi in the newspaper is not only ungrateful and unprofessional, but unethical as well! As for Ganassi, he just assured himself of remaining an untrusted outsider in the Winston Cup. The title "Carpetbagger Chip" fits just as well as "Carpetbagger Cal" does. These open-wheel, cart types do not have any respect for NASCAR, as a series, or the teams, and drivers! They look at NASCAR as some kind of joke, and do not take it seriously, their actions prove this. They think they can just waltz in, throw all their big money, and high tech gear around, and expect the championship to be handed to them. Ganassi is going to learn, as Wells learned last year, that his reputation, cart wins/championships, seat on the cart owners board, etc, don't impress anybody here, and don't mean squat in NASCAR.

[Heeltoe6]

Leffler said in a Speedvision article that Gibbs was appraised of the decision before hand although the team was not. IMHO, Leffler can't be blamed for bolting. Gibbs was dangling a carrot out in front of Leffler, but kept yanking it back. Leffler had no firm committment for cup in 2002 with Gibbs/MBNA cause Gibbs is keeping MBNA in his pocket if Interstate can't ony up the money to stay on the 18, and this was preventing Leffler from getting his career in order. I do agree he is no way ready for Cup, Ganassi should've put him in one of Sabco's old bgn cars for another year, and put a veteran like Morgan Shepherd in the 01(who would probably accept a 1 yr only deal given his current status--unlike say Mast, Lepage, Bliss, Fuller, Dallenbach etc) who would be great at testing and R/d Geoff Bodine might've beenn another candidate if Ganassi had gone that route, who I also think would've taken the job though it's only 1 yr, cause both he and Shepherd are rideless and being left behind by the "youth movement," they'll take any chance to prove themselves again. Of course, Ganassi didn't, so it's moot.

[KC]

Lefler could not be stolen away as he was still under contract to Gobbs for one more year. So Gibbs had to agree to a deal to release him. Sure Ganassi's run in CARt has been impressive and really means nothing in NASCAR, but he does command some level of respect.

I find it funny how an outsider can be villified for making a business deal like Ganassi has done and no one is reaming out Dale Jarret for stealing gordon's pit crew. No one is complaining when a crew chief changes jobs. I didn't hear a whole bunch of *****ing when Dodge took Ray Evernham away from Gordon either. So whats up with that?

[Joe Fan]

KC, Dale Jarrett/Robert Yates did not steal Gordon's pitcrew. They were ****ed that Hendrick was going to release one of the Warriors so they chose to stay together rather than having one of their friend's released. Also, Hendrick's departure had to have made their decision much easier.

Also Dodge did not steal Evernham from Gordon/Hendrick. Evernham was ****ed that Jeff got a huge deal with ownership interest in Hendrick Motorsports and this wasn't offered to him when Rick was largely responsible for Hendrick's success.

[Lee]

KC,

Joe Fan is correct. Yates did not steal the pit crew, they came to him asking to work for him the next year. Also Evernham was quite upset with Hendricks. He wanted to move up into a management position, had proved all that he needed to prove as a crew chief. He was promised the move up to management by Hendricks, but instead of following through on his promise, Hendricks just left him to sit as a crew chief, i.e. he lied to him about his promotion. Had Hendricks fulfilled his end of the agreement, chances are that Evernham would have never left. Had he been happy, no amount of money that Dodge could have offered would have been accepted, he would have remained with HMS. As it was, he resigned, because of less than reputable business practices on the part of Hendricks!

As to Ganassi and respect, again I say, he is typical cart, he has no respect for NASCAR; teams, drivers, existing contracts between owners and drivers, anything, and his actions prove it! Respect is not automatically issued, it has to be EARNED! To earn respect, one first has to SHOW respect! These cart types haven't learned this, and as long as they show no respect for NASCAR, they will not receive any respect from the NASCAR owners, or anybody else in NASCAR!

[Heeltoe6]

Read some more info on this today, but forget where. Apparently the new sponsor, Cingular(who bought Bell South) wanted a fresh face(a la Kodak and Robby Gordon). Ganassi wanted Mast, or perhaps Lepage, but that was nixed by Cingular. Since Ganassi was already interested in Leffler for later years, the sponsirs seized upon this and forced Ganassi to sign Leffler now for this year, even though Ganassi admits the kid is no where ready.

Ah, found it, as found in Matt McLaughlin's column at Speedfx

"Jeers- To Cingular Wireless, sponsor of the Chip Ganassi 01 car this season, having acquired Bell South. Yet another sponsor looking for a new driver that concentrated more on looks than driving and went with Jason Leffler. Ganassi was ready to sign Rick Mast, among other competent drivers, but Cingular wanted a younger driver. Even Ganassi didn't think Jason was ready after he finished 20th in Busch series points last season. Chip wanted to give him one more year to mature in the Busch series before moving on to Cup, but Leffler and IMG management decided to go for the gold rather than show any evidence of common sense. Leffler left the championship Joe Gibbs team because there was no guarantee Gibbs would put him in a Cup car for 2002. The chance to make the big bucks in Cup was too tempting for a young man who seems to have vastly overestimated his talent. If Dodge needs crash test data, they've signed the right driver. Let's just hope that neither Leffler nor any of the other drivers get too badly hurt while he learns the ropes."

[KC]

The thing is respect is a two way street. I have not heard Ganassi say anything negative at all about NASCAR or in any way disparage the drivers, owners, or officials of NASCAR. He is investing his money and that of his sponsor to get in on the racing in NASCAR. Should NASCAR fear Ganassi, not really, but they know he has a long track record of winning and that does command some respect.

Are you going to to tell me that the NASCAR drivers are going to treat Jason Lefler with any respect? They will push him out of the way, knock him out of races at every chance becasue that is what they do to every new comer. Where is the respect in that? I have great respect for every race driver, no matter what series. I would bet big money that Ganassi does too, but he is justifiably proud of his racing team and what he has accomplished in the past. Is Dale Earnhardt proud of his WC titles? Of course, he is one of the cockiest racers on the track and he has earned the right.

Driver changes and crew changes occur all the time in NASCAR. So now a new team has done it and the NASCAR fans scream abotu it being disrespectful. In hindsight my two examples were obviously not good ones concerning Gordon's crew and crew chief. But it is all about business. There was nothing personal about the whole deal, Lefler did not want to run another year in Busch and Ganassi gave him a way to run WC next year.

[bluefeather]

I love it when someone thinks for themselves in NASCAR! All this loyalty hoopla strikes a raw nerve with me. Where is the loyalty of NASCAR? Wait, I won't understand it. Tell it to Jr. Johnson. Where is the loyalty of the car owners? Explain it to Scott Pruett, Geoff, and especially Jason.Promises, promises. NASCAR is always spouted as the "family" sport. Moving into the main stream and all. If NASCAR wants to be in the big leagues, owners and drivers are going to need a clear understanding. A respect of each other. Any owner should be able to replace any driver that is not performing up to the owners standards. Any driver should be able to leave any under performing, mismanaged team. If it's good for the owners to fudge on a deal, then there should be no surprises when their employees fudge to their advantage. I love it! Jason can't be any worst than the rest of the Sunday drivers following the lead pack. I'm a Jeff Gordon fan, but I'll be pulling for Dodge to win every race Gordon doesn't win.