Chip Ganassi is winless in the Nextel Cup Series since 2002. Credit: Autostock

Conversation: Chip Ganassi

LOUDON, N.H. -- From a successful career in business, NASCAR team owner Chip Ganassi began racing as a lark.

But in the time he went from a Sports Car Club of America club racer to a starter in the Indianapolis 500, Ganassi proved he was talented, determined, focused and an organizational genius.

Audio: Listen to the Conversation Conversation Chip Ganassi

His motorsports conglomerate now includes teams in the Nextel Cup and Busch Series, the Indy Racing League and the Grand-American Rolex Sports Car Series.

Ganassi is so involved he virtually flits from place to place on a daily basis, but he took some time at NHIS to sit with NASCAR.COM's Dave Rodman to assess the first half of the Nextel Cup season, the Chase for the Nextel Cup and his driver development program, among other topics.

Do you feel you have the perfect racing conglomerate in place? You have teams in three sanctioning bodies, developing drivers and crewmen. How did it develop, and was it totally planned, or a function of necessity?

Chip Ganassi: I would say that it's part of each. It's partly a plan. I've always been in the racing industry my whole life, and if you're not growing, you're getting smaller, so I would rather be growing our business.

I think we have a lot to offer our sponsors and our partners. We have some great people that we get to work with when you do it this way and it makes for some fun.

I don't know if it was a plan or if it just happened this way, but it sure is fun.

You've got some promising young kids in the fold, coming up in the development program, such as David Stremme, Reed Sorenson and Ryan Hemphill. Are you happy with what that's looking like, right now?

David Stremme

Chip Ganassi: About two years ago, when Sterling (Marlin) got hurt (at the end of the 2002 season), it really threw up a yellow light, if you will, saying 'hey, we need to get on the stick and start developing some young guys.'

I think that it's a great opportunity because there's nothing more fun than working with young guys and young people. It kind of keeps you young when you work with young people, so I think we're pretty excited about it.

We're excited about who we have right now, but we're also excited about who we have coming along.

You've got an awful lot of diversity going on, not only with your business interests, but also in motorsports with the Indy cars, Grand-Am sports cars and all the NASCAR teams. How much time are you able to spend in the motorsports area, and is it enough? Do you wish it were more?

Chip Ganassi: What I like to do is to be involved in the operations of things, and I like to be placing the right people in the right places, and what have you. I'm fortunate that I have some good people around me helping me with the sales side or with the administration side of things and that lets me work on the things that I do best.

I like to be in there at the operations and I like to be at the races and being able for the people to see me there and being involved. The business used to be of the size that I had my fingers on every little piece of the business and had the pulse of every single employee.

I think while I maybe don't have the pulse of every single employee I certainly like to think that I have a pretty good idea of where they're at in their careers and where they're going. So I'm pretty happy with it.

It's a cliché that you've come a long way, but when you look back at driving Formula Fords and Super Vees, right up to Indy cars -- have you managed to maintain the pure joy that comes from being involved in motorsports, or is it just a tough business?

Chip Ganassi: I certainly do. I still like the cars. I still like the aspect of how a car works. I'm fortunate that I'm of an age where I grew up in the heyday of the car -- the heyday of the automobile.

I went through a period where American muscle cars were popular. I went through sports cars and through all those types of racing and now, with the popularity of NASCAR I feel like I'm involved with it at the right time in this formula as well.

I couldn't be happier and there's nothing else I'd rather be doing, believe me.

What's been your happiest moment in motorsports?

Chip Ganassi: I could look back and tell you it's probably the first time I qualified for, or ran in the Indianapolis 500.

I could look back at the first championship we won, or the first race we won or the first stock car race we won.

I can think of plenty of happy moments throughout my career. There really would be more happy moments than I ever dreamed anyone could have.

And it's so hard to put into words what that feeling is like, but one thing is for sure - you know that you'd want it again.

I don't know how to explain it, but I know I want more of it.

What's your mid-season assessment of the No. 40 team of Sterling Marlin? Is it a case where maybe bad luck is their middle name?

Chip Ganassi: You know, I think it's easy to say bad luck. I think in some sense you make your own luck, but we have had some things that have just been not our fault that you just get caught up in.

It's certainly been a trying year -- a difficult year. We're going to have to take a look at things here. I'm not one to pull the trigger quick on things, you know, but we may have to take a look at some changes there at some time, but there's nothing on the immediate horizon.

What's your mid-season assessment of the No. 41 team of Casey Mears? Is he maybe the most improved driver in Nextel Cup?

Casey Mears

Chip Ganassi: I hope so. I don't know -- is there an award for that? And if there is, I hope we win it, because it will be nice to win something here this year.

We're certainly very pleased with how Casey has made it from last year to this year. Hopefully next year he can make that same sort of step, again. That would be nice.

What's your mid-season assessment of the No. 42 team of amie McMurray. Is he maybe the most under appreciated driver -- not by you guys -- but in this garage area?

Chip Ganassi: I think Jamie came into Nextel Cup under the radar screen and here he was, his second race into it, he burst to the top of the radar screen (when he won at Lowe's Motor Speedway driving for Marlin in October 2002).

I think he's a great driver and I think he's developing. He has a nice trajectory in his development curve, I think. I certainly appreciate him -- I know that.

I think our team members and partners and sponsors appreciate him and I don't really give a damn what anybody else thinks in the garage.

Looking at the big picture, with a unique first season with the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup, how do you feel you'll assess the season if you don't make it into the Chase for the Cup?

Chip Ganassi: That's an interesting question. I think that, again, the 10-race run for the championship and being in the top-10 for that is going to catch some people out, that's for sure and I hope we're not one of them.

But obviously, there's a very real possibility of that happening and I'm sort of taking a wait-and-see attitude. One thing that I've learned about this business is don't judge a book by a cover or don't jump to conclusions fast.

So I'm still in a wait-and-see mode here, to really assess what the implications of are being in the top-10 or being out of the top-10.

From a car owner's standpoint, would you have felt better if NASCAR went to race 26 and locked in the 10 championship drivers, then opened the standings again so a driver that's 11th, 12th or 15th could still race his way into the top-10 and get some stage time at the banquet?

Jamie McMurray

Chip Ganassi: Obviously, everybody's got an idea of what would be right or wrong, a better way or a better mousetrap or something. I think that's one of the good things about NASCAR.

You could sit here and complain all you want, but the fact of the matter is, they've shown in the past where if something needs change, they'll change it. They're not afraid to change their mind and go to a better system or a better idea if a better idea comes along.

Or if something they've done doesn't work, they can change their mind. So I don't get too amped up about it being the perfect system (because) I don't know what the perfect system is.

I just know that I'm with a group of people that are not afraid to work on it in mid-season or whenever they have to, to fix it.

DaleEarnhardt Jr. got burned in a sports car accident a couple weekends ago and has to sit out of his Nextel Cup car a bit. Your guys all race in the Busch Series and in Casey's case, particularly, it's helped him improve. Have you given any thought to limiting your drivers' outside racing?

Chip Ganassi: I think any time you look at that you have to look at it on an individual, case-by-case basis. I don't think you can take a broad brush approach and say, 'yes, we're in favor of it' or 'no, we're not.'

I think you really have to look at it on an individual driver basis, an individual team basis down to the individual car and down to who's working on the car. There's a lot more that goes into this than just somebody stepping out of one car and into another.

It's a long and involved process and it's tough to make a blanket statement. You know, Dale Jr. was doing what he wanted to do there. Race drivers are race driver and you can't slow 'em down.

I wouldn't want to second-guess his decision to be in that car and I don't think anybody else should, either.

You had a big change, with Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates moving to a new facility near the Concord Airport. How excited are you about getting into that new facility?

Chip Ganassi: It's certainly exciting for me, I know. It's great to have a great place for our team members to work and for our people to show up at and for our sponsors to show off their capabilities and to show off what great partners they are.

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It's something that's been in the back of my mind for many, many years and we finally did it. We did it mid-season when we had that weekend off and it really worked out well. I couldn't be happier with how everybody's worked extra hard the last month or so to get everything ready for the move.

We pulled it off. There are some little teething problems, yet, with the building that we have to go through, but we're certainly making every step and it's been a real positive thing for all the team members.

Hopefully, it'll translate into some performance on the track.

In general, what's been your take on NASCAR's overall management style of late, everything from race procedure to rules changes to fines and penalties?

Chip Ganassi: I think again that it's much like our building, if you will. There are some teething problems. They've made some rules and some rule changes and again, they felt like they had some trouble digesting them -- if it wasn't the teams that had trouble digesting them.

Maybe it was a case where the officials that had to implement them had trouble digesting them. But anytime you have a sport that's at the top of the heap, it comes under a magnifying glass and everybody wants to opine about it, and everybody wants to think they have a better idea.

I'm sure NASCAR feels they're doing the best job that they can, and the fact of the matter is, this sport's come a long way. Sometimes there have been some changes in the past and people have had opinions about them.

But at the end of the day, the sport's gotten bigger and bigger and bigger. I think until the sport starts getting smaller, I'm going to keep my mouth shut.

Conversation runs every Monday at 3 p.m. ET on NASCAR.COM.