Ganssi moves Mears to a new car and moves Sorenson up

I read an article on That's Racin this morning and then another one on NASCAR.com confirming that Ganassi is definitely making the move to add a fourth car to his Cup stable.  Casey Mears will be moving over to a fourth car sponsored by Home 123, no number announced yet and Reed Sorenson, Rookie of the Year contender in the Busch Series, will be moving up to the #41 Target Dodge.

While I understand that a lot of teams are feeling pressure from the mega-teams, I don't think this is a good move, at least not for 2006.  Granted, Sorenson is doing great in his Rookie season in the Busch Series, but the fact that it was his first time racing at a lot of the tracks should tell you that he could and probably would benefit from being in the Busch Series one more year before being moved up.

Mears, on the other hand, may have more experience, but is it really wise to move him to a brand new car when he's finally got his rhythm going in the #41?  He was left hanging for the longest time, wondering if Ganassi would exercise his option, one move I think Ganassi could have handled better.  I mean if you want to keep a driver, you don't usually wait until the deadline before taking action on it.  He's just lucky that Mears wanted to stay with him and didn't allow another team to do with Mears, what Roush did with McMurray.

As of the time of this post, nothing was mentioned about McMurray, whether Ganssi will make him stay or let him out early.

With this move, Ganassi will have two drivers going for Rookie of the Year in the Cup Series in 2006, Stremme and Sorenson.  It will be interesting if they can handle the transition, especially Sorenson, since he's basically being thrown to the wolves as far as I see it.  I'm not saying he's not good, don't get me wrong on that, I am actually a fan of his, I just think it's too early to move him up.  Sorenson will also be driving the #41 Dodge in the Busch Series, for extra track time so they say, that seems to be putting a lot of pressure on such a young man. 

Hopefully, they share a lot of information, Mears in a new car, Sorenson and Stremme new to Cup and McMurray will be the veteran of the team, so to speak with one win.  I hope that if McMurray is forced to stay, that he will help his new teammates adjust, even though they will only be his teammates for a year.

picture credit - nascar.com