The second large domino has fallen. Tony Kanaan is going to Chip Ganassi Racing... and he's bringing Chevrolet with him. The team will feature four cars with Kanaan being sponsored by NTT Data.
The Chevrolet announcement was a little unsuspected. Now it appears Chevrolet has the three top teams, with Penske and Andretti Autosport having run Chevrolet engines the past two seasons. It is believed Andretti Autosport could move to Honda but nothing has been confirmed.
Speaking of Andretti Autosport, reports are they are working on a deal to keep James Hinchcliffe, as well as EJ Viso and add Carlos Muñoz. Marco Andretti is also working on an extension and Ryan Hunter-Reay signed a multi-year extension at the end of last year.
Another team that could move to Honda would be KV Racing Technology. The defending Indianapolis 500 winning team reportedly has been a possible landing spot for James Hinchcliffe as team owner Jimmy Vasser had been working on a sponsorship package to keep Kanaan. Simona de Silvestro's future at the team is unknown. Another driver in consideration for the KV seat is Sébastien Bourdais who does not have a deal with Dragon Racing for 2014 but could return to the team.
Speaking of Bourdais, according to Marshall Pruett, sports car team 8Star Motorsports would be open to hire the Frenchman for 2014 and 8Star has expressed interest in a one-off for the Indianapolis 500.
One other seat occupancy that has yet to be announced but is believed to already be a done deal is Ryan Briscoe to Panther Racing. Briscoe did not run at Baltimore and will not run at Houston this weekend or Fontana in a fortnight due to his duties at Level 5 Motorsports in the American Le Mans Series. Servià could be considered if Panther expands to two cars in 2014 and has also been linked to KV.
Justin Wilson appears a lock to return to Dale Coyne in 2014. With the Ganassi announcement of moving to Chevrolet, it does open the door to teams such as Bryan Herta Autosport, Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing and AJ Foyt Racing expanding to two cars and allows for the addition of Picktett Racing. Mike Conway has expressed interest in running all road and street course races.
A mock 2014 driver line-up:
Penske (3 Confirmed, 1 possible one-off at Indianapolis)
#2 Juan Pablo Montoya
#3 Helio Castroneves
#12 Will Power
Possible Indianapolis one-off for AJ Allmendinger.
Andretti Autosport (2 Confirmed, 3 more likely, possible Indianapolis one-off)
#25 Marco Andretti
#1/28 Ryan Hunter-Reay
Possible full-timers James Hinchcliffe, EJ Viso and/or Carlos Muñoz. Possible one-off for Kurt Busch.
Ganassi Racing (4 Confirmed)
#9 Scott Dixon
#10 Dario Franchitti
#83 Charlie Kimball
Number Unknown for Tony Kanaan.
Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Racing (2 Confirmed)
#55 Tristan Vautier
#77 Simon Pagenaud
Panther Racing (1 Confirmed, second full-time entry possible)
#4 Likely Ryan Briscoe
Possible second entrant: So far only Oriol Servià.
Ed Carpenter Racing (1 Confirmed, second full-time entry possible)
#20 Ed Carpenter
Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing (1 Confirmed, second full-time entry possible)
#67 Josef Newgarden
Barracuda Racing/Bryan Herta Autosport (1 Confirmed, second full-time entry possible)
#98 Either JR Hildebrand or Luca Filippi or both.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (1 Confirmed, second full-time entry likely)
#15 Graham Rahal
#16 James Jakes unless he find another opportunity.
Dragon Racing (None confirmed at this point but possibility could retain their two drivers)
#6 Sebastián Saavedra
#7 Sébastien Bourdais
AJ Foyt Racing (1 Confirmed, second full-time entry possible)
#14 Takuma Sato
Dale Coyne Racing (1 Confirmed, second full-time entry highly likely)
#18 Unknown. Has had five different drivers in 2013 (Ana Beatriz, Mike Conway, Pippa Mann, James Davison and Stefan Wilson).
#19 Justin Wilson
KV Racing Technology (None confirmed. Possible to keep de Silvestro, New driver)
#78 Simona de Silvestro
Possible replacements for Kanaan: James Hinchcliffe, Oriol Servià, Sébastien Bourdais.
Pickett Racing (Not confirmed. Chances are fair team moves to IndyCar in 2014)
#97 Lucas Luhr
8Star Motorsports (Possible Indianapolis 500 one-off)
Possibly Sébastien Bourdais.
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