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Grand-Am: Juan Pablo Montoya, Jamie McMurray join Ganassi's NAEC line-up

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Antoine Cremer
In a bid to win the inaugural North American Endurance Championship – a three-race series within Grand-Am –, Chip Ganassi Racing called on Juan Pablo Montoya and Jamie McMurray to drive the No. 02 entry at Indianapolis' Brickyard Grand Prix

Chip Ganassi Racing is trailing three points behind leader Action Express Racing and one behind Starworks Motorsport. All have a shot at the title and the $100,000 consequent payoff.

Earlier this year, at the 24 Hours of Daytona, Montoya and McMurray helped Ganassi score a fourth place result.

Earlier in his career, Montoya won at the Brickyard, in the Indianapolis 500. As a driver, he also competed there in NASCAR's Brickyard 400 and even in the Formula One United States Grand Prix, with BMW-Williams.

"I think it's going to be cool," Montoya said. "This is kind of crazy that pretty much everything with four wheels, I've been here at Indy. It's pretty exciting. I think Jamie and I have a pretty good chance."

McMurray however, had never turned a wheel around Indianapolis' road course before recently.

"I've never went around Turn 1 wide open before, and the first time, even though you're going backward, it's kind of mindboggling to run flat out around there in the Rolex car," McMurray said.

"There are a lot of G's and a lot of load on your body, and one thing Juan and I were talking about is that all of these turns are right-handed, and my neck got tired in three laps because we're not used to turning right. I told him to hang on and get prepared because your body's going to go through something it hasn't went through in a long time."
Antoine Cremer
Antoine Cremer
Automotive expert