Briscoe Out, Ganassi team short on cars?

UPDATE #2 For the second consecutive year, team owner Chip Ganassi will hold a shaken driver out of the A.J. Foyt 225. Rookie Ryan Briscoe was so woozy after his first-turn hit Saturday at the Milwaukee Mile that he had to sit down on the track to gather his senses.

The Australian was later cleared by the league's medical staff to drive, but teammate Scott Dixon, who crashed twice in one day last year here before being sidelined for the weekend, knows why it's good for Briscoe to rest. "Every time I've had a big hit, I've felt it more the next day," Dixon said.

Said team managing director Mike Hull: "A guy hits the wall as hard as Ryan did comes back the next day and he's a race driver in his heart. But sometimes he's not a race driver in his (head)." Hull said Briscoe didn't need to risk the rest of his season in a 225-lap race that is expected to be run in oppressive heat and humidity. The IRL races next weekend at Michigan International Speedway. Briscoe couldn't explain why he lost control of his car. "I was pretty lucky that I didn't come in backward and went in sideways," he said. "I'm on my feet and a bit bruised up, but otherwise OK." Ganassi cars have crashed at least 10 times this season, and Darren Manning pulled off the track in qualifying Saturday with a loose car. Indy Star

07/24/05 “It's disappointing for our team and sponsors not to run the no.33 Target Toyota this weekend but we made this decision in what we believe is the best interest of both our driver Ryan Briscoe and the Target team," said Mike Hull, Team Managing Director for Target Chip Ganassi Racing. “It will allow him and the team to properly regroup from today's incident and prepare fully for our next race next weekend in Michigan. With these back to back race weekends, we feel it is the right call. Milwaukee is a very unforgiving track and we had a similar situation last year with Scott (Dixon). Ryan (Briscoe) is a young, very talented and hungry rookie driver and it's tough for anyone to sit out a race but we feel this is the best decision for everyone."

At the time of his accident, Briscoe was the quickest of the Ganassi cars. In qualifying, Dixon was only able to qualify 18th, and Manning waved off his qualifying lap with a very loose race car and will start 21st.

“I don't really know (what happened)," said Briscoe. “We made a change to the car, and I was starting my first qualifying lap and on my third time by I was going into Turn 1 and the rear end came around on me. I was pretty lucky that I didn't come in backwards and went in sideways. So, I'm on my feet and a bit bruised up but otherwise okay. The team has made the decision not to have me run the rest of the weekend in order to properly rest up and be on top of my game for Michigan next weekend."

07/23/05 Word in the IRL paddock is that the Target Ganassi team is so concerned about losing any more cars to crash damage they told their drivers don't crash anymore this weekend. Darren Manning didn't even take a qualifying time to avoid a wreck. "I went out and the No. 10 Target Toyota Panoz was really loose, and I had a bit of a moment between Turns 3 and 4. We decided to come in and not take the chance to damage another car after Ryan's accident. Since we concentrated on race setup more than qualifying, we likely would have started in the second half of the field anyways, so we didn't really lose anything," said Manning. We also heard Briscoe won't be running anymore this weekend, so we'll see if he takes the green on Sunday.