Ed Jones, above, will team up with four-time champion Scott Dixon at Chip Ganassi Racing next season. (Tom E. Puskar, AP)
INDIANAPOLIS — Ed Jones’ signing with Chip Ganassi Racing not only took much of the racing world by surprise, it even somewhat stunned … Chip Ganassi Racing.
The team is extremely happy to have him in tow, but heading into the offseason, managing director Mike Hull said he never thought Jones would be available.
CGR had made a shortlist of four candidates it desired to occupy the No. 10 NTT Data car for the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season. Jones, a free agent, was among them, but he and Ganassi never thought Jones was truly available.
They, like most, believed the British driver was heading back to Dale Coyne Racing after his successful rookie of the year campaign, highlighted by a third-place finish at the Indianapolis 500.
Jones thought so, too, explaining that he and Coyne had come to terms on a handshake agreement at the season finale at Sonoma.
Yet as the days and weeks went and no contract was finalized, Jones let it be known that he was, in fact, available.
That news came as a shock to Hull who learned of Jones’ availability through a mutual friend. But once he knew the 22-year-old was open to signing with CGR, well it didn’t take long to strike a deal.
“A few days,” Hull said. “And I’m very happy we’ve done it.”
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In Jones, Hull sees a bright future for CGR. Jones, Hull said, is the cream of a young crop, one of the top talents of his generation of drivers. That’s true not only inside the cockpit, but outside of it too, Hull insisted. He’s the whole package, and that’s precisely the kind of driver CGR desires as it shifts gears into its new era of IndyCar racing.
During the offseason, the team downsized its operation from four cars to two, hoping to “get back to its roots” of fielding two winning race cars.
“We decided to focus our effort, because we were intent on being able to make choices that make sense for us, not have the choices made for us,” said Hull, implying strongly that CGR is now stressing valuing drivers who bring talent over drivers who bring money.
To his point, CGR has not enjoyed the same level of success since switching to a four-car program in 2011. For years, Ganassi boasted super teams in Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon, then Dixon and Dario Franchitti as championship contenders. But ever since the team switched to a four-car program in 2011, it has only enjoyed one year with multiple drivers contending for a championship (2011).
Since then, Dixon has won 14 races, while his teammates have won just three. With the hiring of Jones, Hull and company are hoping to take CGR back to its glory years of Dixon and Wheldon and Dixon and Franchitti.
“Our roots are running two solid cars with two real race drivers driving them,” Hull said. “We now have one with a lot of experience in Scott Dixon and one who is on the threshold of getting where he needs to be.”
Meanwhile, for Jones, this is the hard-earned opportunity of a lifetime.
The 2016 Indy Lights champion not only joins a team with a long history of success, but one that boasts a lineage of UK legends in the cockpit of the No. 10 car. Following in the footsteps of Wheldon and Franchitti is a dream come true, Jones said.
Then, of course, there’s that other legend he gets to work with every day.
“I’m going to try to get everything out of Scott that I can,” said Jones, who calls himself extremely lucky that he gets to work with a four-time champion in Dixon a year after working with a four-time champion in Sebastien Bourdais. “It’s pretty incredible, actually.
“Being with Chip Ganassi Racing is a big advantage overall. I feel like (with the new universal aero kits), we’re going to be on the ball faster than everyone else, so this is a fantastic opportunity.”
What this means for Dale Coyne Racing
If Ganassi was surprised to hear Jones was available, Coyne was absolutely stunned.
The team owner said he was sure the two sides had reached an agreement, and that all there was left to do was have Jones sign the dotted line. Then, a week ago, he received a call that rocked his world.
“Next we thing we know, we hear from him saying we’re not going to do it,” Coyne said. “We walked away from Sonoma completely convinced it was a done deal.”
Coyne said he understands Jones received “a dream offer” from Ganassi, but in his mind, they had a handshake agreement, one he expected Jones to honor.
“If someone were to come to me with a huge amount of money after Sonoma, I would have said, sorry, I have a deal with Ed, even though we hadn’t signed. We walked away with a done deal.
“At the very least I would have called and said ‘I have this other offer, let’s talk about it.’ What I wouldn’t have done is say, ‘By the way, we have another offer and we’re taking it. Goodbye.’ Which is what they did. That part is a little unfair.”
Now, Coyne said, he has to begin searching for a new teammate for Bourdais. His phone has been ringing off the hook since Ganassi and Jones made their announcement, but he hasn’t had time to come up with a short list just yet.
“Everyone’s on the table,” said Coyne, who hopes to have a new driver in place within the next few weeks. “IndyCar guys, Indy Lights guys, anybody.”
“We’ll get something,” Coyne added optimistically, “We’ll land on our feet.”
Ayello writes for The Indianapolis Star, part of the USA TODAY Network.
