DOVER, Del. -- Chip Ganassi walked into the No. 41 hauler and spent 30 minutes debriefing with Reed Sorenson's team after practice. When he exited, it was a swift walk across the garage to the No. 40 hauler. His time was precious.

Just after 3:30 p.m. ET, Juan Montoya made his qualifying lap at Dover International Speedway, parked the No. 42 Dodge in its garage stall and made his way to his hauler.

"Loose as hell," Montoya told teammate Reed Sorenson. "It's just loose, ya know."

“

Naturally, when you're a racecar driver you want to make sure you've got the right folks around you. ... Juan is getting more comfortable communicating with Brian, and Brian is doing a real nice job with the racecar.

”

STEVE HMIEL

Montoya's swerving lap on Friday was good enough for 35th on the starting grid for Sunday's 400-mile Cup Series race. But that, as evidenced by his expression once he got out of his car, was not good enough. Sorenson's lap was slowest of time trials due to a sway-bar issue; he'll start 42nd.

It's been a trying couple of weeks for Chip Ganassi Racing. Rookie driver Dario Franchitti's broken ankle continues to be problematic. The former open-wheel driver who injured his ankle in a Nationwide Series race at Talladega last month was scheduled to make his return this weekend. Franchitti is still set to run the Nationwide Series race, but he bowed out of the Cup race earlier this week and Ganassi got Jeremy Mayfield to sub in the 41 car. Mayfield will start 10th Sunday.

Two weeks ago Ganassi fired Montoya's crew chief, Jimmy Elledge, for an altercation with director of competition Steve Hmiel and replaced him with Brian Pattie just five days before the Coca-Cola 600. Montoya qualified 42nd at Charlotte -- he had the slowest qualifying lap of 48 cars -- and later spun through the infield grass for what amounted to a 30th-place finish.

Montoya was openly emotional about the crew chief swap, and expressed his frustration at Charlotte. Dover didn't seem any better.

"Everyone, myself included, is very resistant to change," Hmiel said of the personnel decisions within his shop. "But we felt like a change needed to be made and felt like Brian Pattie was the right guy. Naturally, when you're a racecar driver you want to make sure you've got the right folks around you."

Montoya wanted to make sure of that, too. He requested and met with Ganassi last weekend to clear the air about his frustrations.

Hmiel said, despite the differences of opinion in making the change, confidence is high in the Ganassi shop.

"They've got a fast car," Hmiel said. "Juan is getting more comfortable communicating with Brian, and Brian is doing a real nice job with the racecar.

"This new car, the people who are doing the best with it spent the most time with it last year. Unfortunately, Chip Ganassi Racing didn't spend much time with the new car. So when you run them in all the races, we're pretty far behind."

That, in fact, is why Hmiel was brought into the organization -- to focus on progressing the team's grasp on the new car. Hmiel said improving performance is the top priority, as did Montoya. But the biggest issue Ganassi is facing right now is the hole the team is in due to the recent changes and roadblocks.

The changes that have been made seem to have set Montoya's team back recently. Since his second-place finish at Talladega, Montoya was 32nd at Richmond, 23rd at Darlington and 30th last week at Charlotte.

"Everybody's on the same page right now in terms of the fact that nothing's going to happen overnight," Hmiel said. "Juan's actually the guy that preaches it. He's the guy who says, 'Look guys, we're in a hole. We're not just going to jump right out and be on level ground; it's going to take a little while.' He's actually been the guy carrying the flag on that."

But on Friday, the qualifying struggles that plagued Montoya and his team didn't seem to provide any healing.

"It's part of the process," Montoya said before disappearing into his hauler for a team chat. "Changing crew chiefs every week doesn't help."