Chip Ganassi Racing rules out Patrick Indy 500 deal

Chip Ganassi Racing has ruled out a deal to run Danica Patrick in this year's Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500 as part of her farewell races before retiring from motorsport.

After losing her Stewart-Haas Racing seat in NASCAR at the end of the 2017 season, Patrick announced she would enter the Daytona 500 as a one-off before making a final return to the Indy 500 in May, seven years after her last IndyCar appearance.

Patrick admitted earlier this month it was taking longer than expected to strike a deal for the races, and lost another option earlier this week when Chip Ganassi Racing president Steve Lauletta confirmed a deal was off the table.

"We’re not talking any longer," Lauletta told Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

"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.

"Ultimately we couldn’t come to a solution that worked for both of us.

“We’re going to stay focused on the task at hand. We have got two cars that were testing yesterday in Sebring.

"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.

"So I don’t think you’ll see that happening with us in 2018."

Chip Ganassi Racing downsized from a four-car IndyCar entry in 2017 to just two cars for this season, with Scott Dixon and Ed Jones set to represent the team.