Ganassi sits on top of two racing worlds

INDIANAPOLIS — After 17 years, Chip Ganassi is on top of the two biggest racing series in America.

Now that he’s there, the car owner puts little stock in his current position.

“Being the points leader in May, that and $4.50 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks,” the Fox Chapel resident said. “It’s a nice feather in the cap for the team, but it doesn’t mean anything. We want to count the points up at the end of the season, not in the middle.

“But it does show the hard work and the dedication of so many people, that we’ve been working so hard in Charlotte and Indianapolis.”

Ganassi heads into the

biggest Sunday in racing with drivers leading the point standings in NASCAR and IndyCar. Scott Dixon will start from the pole in the Indianapolis 500; Kyle Larson will start last in the CocaCola 600, but had a car capable of winning last week in the All-Star race.

His teams also are leading the standings in the World Endurance Championship series, and are ranked second in IMSA’s sports car series. But it’s the first time his IndyCar and NASCAR teams are simultaneously leading the standings.

If he’s giddy about the possibilities for Sunday, Ganassi isn’t letting on.

Sunday is considered the biggest day in auto racing and Ganassi has chances to win two races. His Indianapolis lineup of Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Charlie Kimball and Max Chilton is strong, and Larson and Jamie McMurray have upped their performance in NASCAR and are contenders nearly every week.

“Any weekend is a big day for me when we are at the races,” Ganassi said. “Wins are wins and that’s what we are here for, and we are having a good season with Kyle. We are already in the [playoffs] and we can work on some things that maybe we couldn’t have in years past.

“In terms of Dixon, this is early in the year for him to be leading the points. He usually is just about ready to start get going in June. So we’re pretty happy right now.”

Ganassi’s current plan is to leave for Charlotte, N.C., after the Indy 500 — barring a victory, of course — but he wasn’t interested in discussing travel plans.

“We’ll see what happens come race day,” Ganassi said. “That’s why they have race day.”

NASCAR

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s first childhood memories of Cup Series racing come from Charlotte Motor Speedway. He remembers watching his famous father Dale Sr. tear up the track. He ran plastic Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough cars down a nearby dusty hill.

It’s also the track where he ran his first NASCAR Cup Series race — and won the 2000 AllStar race as a rookie. But of all of the memories at Charlotte, one is strangely absent — a Cup Series points race victory. Earnhardt, 42, would like to change that in his final season as a NASCAR driver. In fact, he wants to win the CocaCola 600 more than any other race remaining on the docket.

“I would love that, to win the 600,” Earnhardt said.

Formula One

While resurgent Ferrari keeps improving, Mercedes is at a loss to explain the difference in performance between its two cars. Ferrari will start the Monaco Grand Prix Sunday with Kimi Raikkonen in pole position and championship leader Sebastian Vettel next to him. Although Valtteri Bottas qualified in third place, his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton was out of the top 10.

“We have to try and understand what’s happening, how we are going backward over the weekend,” Mercedes’ head of motorsport Toto Wolff said.