Target Chip Ganassi Racing announced that it will part ways with driver Darren Manning effectively immediately
source: paddocktalk.com Scott Dixon, the 2003 IRL IndyCar® Series champion, and series rookie Ryan Briscoe will compete this weekend in the Firestone Indy 400 at Michigan International Speedway. The team did not address a replacement for Manning in the No. 10 Toyota-powered Panoz. "Darren did a great job for us and we were very happy to have had him as part of our team," team owner Chip Ganassi said in a statement. "The team does regret that we weren't able to bring him to Victory Circle in our time together, but we certainly wish him the best of luck in his racing career." Manning was 13th in championship points (tops among the three drivers), with a sixth place in the season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway the high-water mark. He started this season in similar fashion as 2004, with four consecutive top-10 finishes. But a seventh at Kansas was his only top 10 in the past six races. Manning, 29, was involved in incidents at Richmond International Raceway and Nashville Superspeedway that knocked out the No. 10 car. Late in the SunTrust Indy Challenge at the 0.75-mile D-shaped Richmond oval, his car made contact with the No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing car driven by Roger Yasukawa and both hit the wall. At the 1.33-mile concrete oval at Nashville, a mechanical failure on the No. 11 Team 7-Eleven car driven by Tony Kanaan forced Manning's car into the SAFER Barrier in Turn 1 on Lap 115. This past weekend at The Milwaukee Mile, Manning did not make a qualifying attempt because of a handling issue and started 21st. Two early pit stops did not resolve the problem and he parked the car after 34 laps.
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