Based on exactly no insider knowledge a'tall, what about this:
Item 1: Chippy Ganassi tosses Alex Lloyd aside like an empty beer can, drained of its flavor and enjoyment. OK that's wild speculation. But Alex did announce today via Twitter -- which is how all the cool people announce things -- that he was parting ways with Chippy. Lack of funding blamed. Need to be a free agent to find any ride a'tall cited.
Item 2: Alex's leaving (for whatever reason) helps Chippy clear some budget cap/funding possibilities to focus on ... dun-dun-daahhhhh .. Danica Patrick.
Credit for this kernel of supposedness goes to Jeff Iannucci of MyNameIsIRL.com who first supposed Danica could take her sponsorship to any team, including one of the Big 2 as a third car, which was a new concept for me. Read Jeff's fuller dissertation on his theory HERE.
Jeff is probably onto something there, since Danica's sponsors could give a flip about Andretti Green Racing. They're all about Danica, preferably with a winning team, which Target Chip Ganassi is and AGR increasingly is not.
Item 3: As I (and I'm sure others) have opined previously, the thing that missing from Brand Danica is WINS. Especially winning the Big One (Indy 500).
Item 4: While Danica would be instantly and insanely rich, she would go to the bottom of the feeder system in N-word, and not be likely to win for several years.
Put all those items together, and you have Danica going to the only teams that are a step up from where she is now, and that's Penske and TCG.
Item 5: Robin Miller, who is rarely completely wrong, reports vibes that Scott Dixon will bolt from the Chippy Crew in 2010. You may think that's a load of rubbish, as my homeys in the UK say, but explain then Dan Wheldon getting sacked by Chippy at the end of 2008. Curiouser and curiouser.
Item 6: Cue the black helicopters and get them hovering over TCG headquarters to see if Danica or (more likely) her designee is spotted going in or out. Poof -- Danica to Ganassi to replace Dixon OR with her insane sponsorship cash to make a third car.
Mull that one over.
The Chipster doesn't hire American drivers and cracked girl jokes about Danica in her first season. The chipster also hates DRAMA and the go daddy girl is chalked full of that. Watch for Justin Wilson, Graham Rahal, Will Power and Bruno Junqueria to be canadites. Rahal is going to USF1, Junky has already drove for Chip and might just fill in (1 season) and Power will get a third car for the Capt'n so Wilson is the guy.
Posted by: CARTMAN | June 10, 2009 at 12:25 PM
One thing Chip loves more than all that --- money. Who does he make more money with? Danica or these other guys, all of whom are wonderful I'm sure. If Danica wins the 500 ... Everyone ... Gets ... Paid.
Posted by: pressdog | June 10, 2009 at 01:17 PM
Who do you suppose Target might like to have as a spokesperson--Wilson, Rahal, Power, Junqueria or Danica Patrick?
Posted by: redd | June 10, 2009 at 01:17 PM
How about this for a little best-of-all-worlds action while we're wildly speculating here. Danica is signed by El Chipster after Scott Dixon runs off to the other end of pit lane to hang out with good buddy Gil. She is signed to run full-time with the IndyCar program, which is only the most sensible thing. However, she also takes on a very limited NASCAR deal for like...the Daytona 500 and maybe a couple other high-profile races, but nothing that will turn out as a full-time deal. THEN, she also gets a part-timer for Chippy's Grand Am team, which is easily one of the best in that series, for the 24-hr and perhaps the 6-hr deal at Watkins Glen. Danica is pushed onto race fans in all markets (not literally...which might be nice, i guess), Target gets lots of valuable Danica time, and she has a legit shot at winning three of the four biggeest races in America (which are the 500, the Taxicab-bump-and-draft-big-one 500, Daytona 24, and Sebring 12). Once again, I post a disclaimer of totally wild speculation here.
Posted by: H. B. Donnelly | June 10, 2009 at 02:00 PM
It all makes perfect sense, HB.
Posted by: pressdog | June 10, 2009 at 02:51 PM
Interesting thought. Will at IsItMayYet caught an article about HER energy drink expanding their distribution, but the article ended with the line "HER expects to do a full season in IndyCar for 2010"
SO.. presumably they are with Alex wherever he goes (seeing as HER is the one behind the new pink-lloyd website). Lloyd would only leave Chip if he had something good to go to AND Chip wasn't going to be it.
I see it not a stretch at all to see Dixon going to race for Gil; Danica to Target/Chip, but where it gets interesting is the now open AGR seat.
Lloyd would be a great fit to team up with TK, but Venom (and maybe still Frank's) is already there; so who would get the new AGR seat and where do Alex and HER go?
My wish would be for Sam Schmidt to graduate to the big boys, but I suspect something like a veteran team needing funding like RLR, KV, Panther for Lloyd.
Posted by: Allen Wedge | June 10, 2009 at 02:54 PM
No, no, no, you have it utterly wrong. Chip won't toss Alex Lloyd aside "like an empty beer can", he'll toss him aside "like an empty HER can".
It was just staring you right in the face there, 'dog. ;)
Posted by: Racemind | June 10, 2009 at 04:03 PM
You know, everybody keeps saying that Target and Danica are a perfect fit, yadayadayada, but I just can't see Target being happy with Poster Girl representing them. The following comments have nothing to do with her racing ability - disclaimer here. Her type of Poster Girl image is one that has never been associated with Target, and I just can't see them condoning, or desiring to be associated with, the bikini babe, body-draping-car tramplet, sleazy-GoDaddy-Ad "Brand". THEIR "brand" could be substantially tarnished. Unless there was an instantaneous revisionist history on Danica.
Or, maybe I've officially morphed into my mother, and the world today has no taste or imagination without being bombarded with explicit sexuality.
Posted by: Sue | June 10, 2009 at 10:02 PM
Sue/Sue's Mother: The things Danica has going with her that helps with your good points are: First, she's easing up on the sleeze. SI isn't exactly a skin mag and even her new GoDaddy commercial (with her getting a traffic ticket) is downright conservative, as far as her showing flesh. Second, the huge Target customer audience doesn't know Danica from Denise Richards at this point, so that minimizes the baggage. Third, it would explain her Bunnies & Rainbows effort -- making her more desirable as a spokesmodel to more companies like Target. While we are highly aware of IndyCar drivers, the sad truth is a strong half of the country has no idea what IndyCar even is, let alone Danica. She's big, but she's not that big. Still time for her to rehab/start new with the image and Target.
Posted by: pressdog | June 11, 2009 at 07:14 AM
Why not Princess driving the HER car for Chip? She would look better in pink than Alex. Maybe the website showing Alex just has not been updated lately (that can happen). Does Chip need more money? Everyone needs more money. But would it be so much more that its worth tossing Scott or Dario? I think most of that money would go to the Princess herself. So does the increase in money overcome the decrease in driver. Sorry but to think Princess is anywhere near Scott or Dario is laughable. Just saying, "Enjoy Silly Season"
Posted by: John S | June 11, 2009 at 10:53 AM
I doubt Dixon is going anywhere. I think Robin was on the crack pipe on that one, and he backs away from it in his recent Danica to Ganassi thing. Chippy will only do this if he makes a shitload of money. If Danica just wants to get paid zillions, she's gone to N-word next year. No way open-wheel can match them dollar for dollar. But I think there's more she considering than cash. Most people are not just about the cash when it comes down to it.
Posted by: pressdog | June 11, 2009 at 11:47 AM
So then is it not possible that she just stays where she is at? Is it not possible for AGR to step it up, performance wise, moneywise, everything wise so that PBR (Princess Bunnies and Rainbows) gets the coveted Indy 500 win or is this a deal where she will be racing for a team that is not AGR? Does The Clash song, "should I stay or should I go" play a role here?
Posted by: Rob | June 11, 2009 at 12:36 PM
danica too "racy" for target? she's practically the girl next door.
Posted by: redd | June 11, 2009 at 01:37 PM
DP will go whereever she has a better chance to win races! AGR is not fast enough to keep up with those red cars--regardless, and Iam sure shes getting tired of Marco's whining? Dp has stated though that she loves the short season of IRL and the N season is long so I doubt she would ever do that except randomly? I guess we'll see?
Posted by: mscfn | June 14, 2009 at 12:15 AM