Ganassi team arrives at Road America on top in IndyCar and NASCAR

Gathered around an iPad on Sunday night, members of Chip Ganassi’s sports-car team and visitors from the IndyCar program cheered.

They’d fallen short in their quest to repeat in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. IndyCar was off. But they shared in a victory nearly 4,000 miles away.

When Kyle Larson won the NASCAR race at Michigan International Speedway, that put Chip Ganassi Racing on top of the stock-car and American open-wheel worlds simultaneously. These are good times.

“We really pull for those guys,” Mike Hull, managing director for the Ganassi IndyCar program, said this week while getting ready for that series’ next stop Sunday at Road America.

“What it does, it creates a sense of validation for the workload. The workload doesn’t change, but the weight on your shoulders is a bit less when you win.

“Everybody in the entire company that supports what we do — whether their hands are on the product or their minds are on the product — it’s good for all of us.”

Dixon and the Verizon IndyCar Series race at noon Sunday at Road America in Elkhart Lake. Larson and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start two hours later on the Sonoma Raceway road course in California.

Statistically, these have been dramatically different seasons for the two leaders.

Larson, who broke through with his first victory a year ago, has won twice in the Cup Series before this season’s midpoint.

His 712 laps led are more than he had in his first three-plus seasons in the series. Plus, Larson has won three of his seven Xfinity Series starts.

Meanwhile Dixon, a four-time series champion who averages 2.6 victories per season, is winless.

He has led in five of the nine races leading into Road America but the only venue at which he stayed out front for a significant number of laps was Long Beach, Calif., in the second race of the year. Most memorable about Dixon’s season has been that he was held up in a fast-food drive-through after winning the Indianapolis 500 pole and his frightening flight in the race.

“I don’t think there’s as much contrast as that would seem to be,” Hull said. “Because Kyle’s knocked on the door several times and he’s won. Scott’s knocking on the door with the opportunity, and I think he will win.”

The IndyCar team was presented with the off-season challenge of switching from Chevrolet to Honda and in the in-season process of making the package work. That attention, Hull said, has led to crews and drivers becoming more efficient in every race and in picking up whatever points it can.

“What you’re seeing from Scott is the result of a lot of hard work,” Hull said, “a lot of hard work on Scott’s part and on the team’s part to be where we are.”

And where Dixon is, is on top. Just the same as his stock-car teammate.

Busy, busy, busy

This may be the worst weekend of the year for Wisconsin racing fans ... at least when it comes to making choices.

With Indy cars in Elkhart Lake, sprint cars in Beaver Dam, ARCA at Madison International Speedway and a couple of anticipated national-level debuts elsewhere for state drivers, there’s a flood of options. And that’s just the special events, not counting the dozens of local tracks’ weekly shows.

Although the ARCA event Friday night doesn’t have any of the Wisconsin favorites who drop in occasionally, it still is a nationally recognized series with young drivers who bear watching.

Reigning USAC national midget champion Tanner Thorson is scheduled to make his debut. Sixteen-year-old Christian Eckes, who came up 2 feet short in Elko, Minn., will chase his first victory in the series’ next short-track race.

One of the top feel-good stories of the Wisconsin season happened this weekend last year, when local driver Bill Balog beat the World of Outlaws regulars at Beaver Dam Raceway.

“People will still shoot me a message every now and then, asking about it and saying, ‘Remember that night’ and stuff like that,” said Balog, who’ll defend Saturday night.

“Things definitely have to go right to get an Outlaws win, especially for a smaller team like ours. Everything went right that night and we had a fast car, so everything fell into place.

Meanwhile, Roush Fenway prospect Ty Majeski of Seymour will make his first start in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Iowa Speedway on Saturday night and Bilicki of Richfield is to run his first Cup race at Sonoma.

Thrill ride

Green Bay Packers backup quarterback Brett Hundley couldn’t stop grinning in anticipation Thursday, and then he came back from his ride around Road America with Mario Andretti squealing in delight.

“I was praying a couple of times, and saying curse words in between,” Hundley said. “Hitting those corners around there, I don’t know how fast we were going, but that was unbelievable.

“There was a good amount of screaming. It didn’t affect Mario at all, so I’m glad it didn’t.”

Andretti won the Daytona 500 in 1967, Indianapolis 500 in 1969, the Formula One title in 1978 and four Indy-car titles. At 77, he keeps his feet in the sport by giving VIPs and paying customers rides in a two-seat Indy car.

“I probably enjoy it more than the passengers,” said Andretti, who said he drives at about 85% under optimal conditions.

“I don’t know a better way to showcase our sport, quite honestly. I just wish we could give everybody a ride.”

Contact Dave Kallmann at dkallmann@journalsentinel.com or twitter.com/davekallmann.