DEI talks possible merger with Ganassi

The latest gambit by DEI's Teresa Earnhardt to keep her four-team operation up and running includes talks about a possible merger with fellow car owner Chip Ganassi, according to Detroit sources. But how Ganassi's Dodge factory deal might mesh with Earnhardt's Chevy factory deal is quite unclear.

Earnhardt's four DEI teams are in the key top 35 in the Sprint Cup standings, but she has only one solid sponsor for 2009.

Hence the frantic action over the past several weeks, to find sponsorships wherever possible.

Two weeks ago, Petty Enterprises was talking with DEI about a possible merger.

Now it's Ganassi, who started the season with a three-car team but was forced to fire 70 crewmen and shut down one team over the summer when he was unable to find sponsorship. Then Reed Sorenson announced he would be leaving Ganassi at the end of the season. Then Texaco announced that it, too, would be leaving.

Ganassi has also talked with Petty Enterprises about a possible merger.

What this merger mania is all about is simple -- a dramatic shortage of sponsorships. Running a top-flight NASCAR Sprint Cup operation costs $25 million to $30 million a year. In the current economic climate, new money is hard to come by, and some old money is drying up.

Now it appears that Ganassi has only the $22 million Target sponsorship and a 12-to-15 race Wrigley's sponsorship ... and Juan Pablo Montoya, an ex-Formula One star.

Putting Montoya in a Chevrolet would seem a big-game move by General Motors. But GM is in the midst of potential merger talks of its own with Chrysler, and that has everything about Dodge up in the air.

Montoya said he's not sure what's going on: "No, I don't.

"I haven't really talked to Chip the last few days. I haven't even asked him.

"I haven't even asked him who's driving the other car (in 2009).

"Right now our focus is to try to run better."

And Montoya has. He had a good run going Sunday in the Dickies 500, until he tangled with David Gilliland.

"It was frustrating what he did," Montoya said. "Especially when we ran in the top 10 all day and he's like, four laps down....

"My mind now is on Phoenix -- and to make sure we run well, and hopefully finish.

"The last few weeks we've been running top 10 every week -- and something happens."

At Texas, Montoya finished 43rd. At Atlanta 40th. At Charlotte 34th. At Talladega 25th. At Dover 39th.

That's five crashes in the past seven weeks.

And to think that after he nearly won Talladega in the spring, he was 12th in the standings and listening to questions about what he might be able to do if he made the Chase. Well, he missed by about 500 points.

Still, Montoya has become a solid fixture on the stock-car tour.

And Montoya said, "Mentally I'm really happy. I tell the guys, ‘Yes, it's frustrating we're not able to get the results we deserve -- but we're there.

"I'm driving the car better than ever.

"I can push the car further than I ever have. I know what I can do with a car now. I'm comfortable in the car now. That goes a long ways.

"It's exciting.

"I told my crew before the Atlanta race, ‘We're going to run in the front, or we're going to wreck, because I'm going to go 110 percent.'"

Well, Montoya did, and Montoya did.

"It's been a difficult year, for results, but from the middle of the season to where we are running now, it's incredible.

"If we were running in the middle of the season like we are now, we probably could have made the Chase."

What Montoya has been able to do in NASCAR in such a short time contrasts sharply with the problems other open-wheel drivers have had. Montoya has made this look easy.

"It's not easy," Montoya said. "What happened to Dario Franchitti (dropped by Ganassi in midseason) and Jacques Villeneuve (who never really got going in NASCAR this season) is going to make people wonder.

"But you have to remember Sam Hornish Jr. (another struggling open-wheel star) is only in his first year. I don't know why people are thinking he's going back to IndyCar. I'd be surprised if he did."

But the big Montoya story at the moment is the possibility he may be in a Chevrolet in 2009. That, and what might Ganassi do.

"Merger, no merger, I don't know," Montoya said. "I just drive the car."

■ Mike Mulhern can be reached at mmulhern@wsjournal.com.