An all-star lineup of drivers will campaign the twin Cadillac DPi-V.R race cars for Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) in its second season of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Daytona Prototype international (DPi) competition. 

Renger van der Zande will co-drive the No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R with Sebastien Bourdais for the full season. They will be joined by six-time Indycar series champion Scott Dixon and 2021 Indycar champion Alex Palou for the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona to comprise a “Champions Cadillac” lineup.

Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn will be the full-time co-drivers of the No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R and will be joined by Kevin Magnussen and Marcus Ericsson for the Rolex 24 At Daytona.

“Our Cadillac drivers lead by example,” Chip Ganassi Racing Managing Director Mike Hull said. “Each have already won on the world stage. They unselfishly mirror each other’s performance on and off track. Their equal experience combined with skill set is driven through zero agenda.

Let’s have a little history lesson, folks.

The year is 2003. Matt Kenseth wins the Winston Cup championship, with a grand total of 1 win. 2nd place points finisher Jimmie Johnson had 3 wins and ended up 90 points behind Kenseth in the standings. Meanwhile, Ryan Newman won a stunning 8 races that year (by far the most wins in his career in one season), but finished just 6th in points. Kurt Busch had 4 wins, and he came in 11th in points.

Matt Kenseth showed us in 2003 that consistency will win you a title, even moreso than wins. In addition to his 1 win, he had 11 top 5 finishes, and 25 top 10 finishes in 36 races. His average finish was 10.2, with only 2 DNFs. Newman, meanwhile, had an average finish of 13.9, and 7 DNFs. Stay out of the wall and finish well every week, and you’ll be champ without a showroom full of trophies.

The outcry was, of course, plentiful (yes, even before social media, people complained about everything in NASCAR). “How can you have a champion with only one win?” was the refrain often heard. 

And so we got (drumroll, please): The Chase. Yes, starting in 2004, NASCAR launched its own version of the playoffs, in large part a reaction to how Kenseth won in 2003. Winning through consistency was boring, and they wanted drama. And drama they got that first year.