Chip Ganassi opens up with the reasons it won't offer Danica Patrick a ride


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When Danica Patrick retired last November, she said she'd like to return for two final races in 2018 -- The Daytona 500 and the Indy 500.

After the announcement, the rumors began to swirl as to who would supply a ride for her race endeavors. One of the early talked about teams was Chip Ganassi Racing. CGR has teams in both NASCAR and the IndyCar Series so for them to come up was only natural.

Last month, Chip Ganassi mentioned that the two sides had talked, but admitted that things had come to a standstill. Now it appears things have fallen apart entirely, according to NBC Sports.

RELATED: Danica Patrick speaks out about racing in the Daytona 500 and Indy 500, and says it's "complicated"

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An executive with CGR said the discussions between the organization and Patrick have halted completely. Steve Lauletta, president of CGR was recently interviewed on SIRIUSXM NASCAR Radio's Dialed In and commented on the current status of the situation.

"We're not talking any longer," Lauletta said. "I think it would have made sense, and we did have conversations if she wanted to run in both races, the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500, and ultimately we couldn't come to a solution that worked for both of us."

Lauletta went on to say they are focused on the task at hand, and that's preparing their drivers for the upcoming season. Making sure Jamie McMurray, Kyle Larson, and the No. 42 Xfinity car are ready for the year are much more important than a temporary effort that might not be to their standards according to Lauletta.

"We're going to stay focused on that rather than put another temporary effort together and not doing it up to the standards that we would want to," Lauletta said.

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Lauletta was asked if he thought Patrick would land a ride to compete, and his answered suggested he was confident she would.

"Ultimately I think she will," Lauletta said. "She has been fairly successful in some of the races that she's run at that place."

While Patrick does desire to finish out her career on her terms by racing these final two times, it's uncertain if that will happen.

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