Despite rift, Ganassi team still one big happy family

LAS VEGAS -- Teammate wrecking teammate in pursuit of the checkered flag? Heck, that's nothing. How about son wrecking mother?

As strange as that might sound, that's exactly what happened when David Stremme, driver of the No. 40 Dodge in the Nextel Cup Series, was a youth. He used to race against his brother and both of his parents while honing his driving skills in and around his hometown of South Bend, Ind., and, well, sometimes mom just wasn't going fast enough for his tastes.

Team orders

Chip Ganassi issued only one team rule last week at Mexico City: Do not wreck a teammate. But that's exactly what happened for Juan Montoya to win his first NASCAR race.

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That's why it's easy to believe Stremme when he says that he and the rest of his Chip Ganassi Racing teammates are one big happy family again, just one week after Juan Montoya spun Ganassi teammate Scott Pruett and went on to win the Busch Series race in Mexico City.

"I think they would have been in some more trouble if nobody [from Ganassi] had won," Stremme said. "But I think they have tremendous respect for each other. Nothing was intentional. It was just hard racing.

"One of the things it made me think of was growing up I raced against my family a lot -- and one time I ended up running into my mom and beating her. So this really was nothing. It happens and it was just one of those things."

Team owner Chip Ganassi said immediately after the incident that he was disappointed that one of his drivers wrecked another of his drivers, but that he needed to look at tape of it before making any kind of definitive judgment. He said Friday that he's had the time to view the tape, and that all members of his team are ready to put the controversy behind them.

It looked like they were doing a good job of it when Stremme qualified second for Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, turning a lap at 184.193 mph in Friday's qualifying. He'll start on the outside of the front row next to pole winner Kasey Kahne, who turned a lap at 184.856.

Montoya will start right behind Stremme on the second row after qualifying fourth in his No. 42 Dodge. A third Ganassi driver, Reed Sorenson in the No. 41 Dodge, qualified seventh and will start on the inside of the fourth row.

All of which made Ganassi smile.

"We're very pleased," Ganassi said. "It was a good job by all the Dodge cars, obviously."

Ganassi wasn't smiling much when Montoya turned Pruett with seven laps left to go in Mexico. The general consensus at the time was that Montoya had the better racecar and needed only to exercise more patience before attempting to make his pass.

Pruett was extremely upset afterward and accused Montoya of "dirty driving." Pruett is not competing in Las Vegas, as he is a part-time driver for Ganassi who specializes in road-course racing. But Ganassi insisted that all is fine now between Montoya and Pruett.

"Everything is fine. Everybody is friends again. Everybody knows what happened," Ganassi said. "It's easy for us to sit there and dissect it a week later, but you know those guys have split seconds to make decisions in. And I don't have any problem with it.

"Looking back at it a week later, and the parties have all talked and kissed and made up, so everything is OK internally on our part as far as our team. Everybody understands the mistakes that were made, and hopefully we can correct them in the future."

Stremme wasn't in the Busch race in Mexico, but watched it and saw what transpired.

"It was interesting because of what happened," Stremme said. "But the main thing is I don't think there is one person you can blame. I think they can both take fault. They were both racing hard, and they both had good cars.

"It was good one of the cars ended up winning for the organization. And Scott came back and finished fifth, which I thought was pretty impressive."

As he watched the Montoya/Pruett incident unfold in Mexico, Stremme said he almost immediately related it to some of the family racing incidents he grew up enduring. He earned his first victory in 1993 at age 15 in one of his mother's Street Stock cars. When officials learned how old he was, he had to quit racing until he was legal street-driving age.

"When I wrecked my mom, I got in a little trouble. But it wasn't intentional," he said. "It was full stock cars. I raced against my family a lot. I was young and dumb and was just like, full throttle and didn't care. I just moved her out of the way. I didn't wreck her. I just moved her out of the way. I think I ended up running second. It was at a little track back home [in Indiana], Plymouth Speedway. It was like my second year racing."

And while it made for an awkward few moments at the dinner table that night, Stremme said he still got to eat. Plus it wasn't as bad as some other attempts at family dinner.

"It was pretty awkward, but not as awkward as the one time my brother wrecked my dad, himself and my mom. That got pretty wild," Stremme said. "It was something I was real thankful for, getting to run with my family. It was a lot of fun.

"One time my dad and I were just messing around in practice. We were racing for a hot dog. He ended up running me off the backstretch there and they didn't even have a wall. It was that intense.

"Sometimes, it's just that intense and you have a little contact even among friends and family. But the thing in Mexico was that they both ended up with a good finish, and you move on."