Chip Ganassi Racing has scheduled a press conference for Thursday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to make "a major announcement concerning the 2011 IZOD IndyCar Series season." The team is widely tipped to announce the signing of Graham Rahal, who announced at the IndyCar finale in Homestead that he had a sponsorship deal in hand with Service Central and that he and the company were considering various teams with which to associate.
SPEED.com's Robin Miller reported last month that Rahal will drive for a newly established satellite Ganassi team to be housed at a separate shop from Ganassi's existing Target squad, which will continue to field series champion Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon. Miller reported Tuesday that Rahal will be joined in the new team by another young American driver, Charlie Kimball, who has driven for the last two seasons in the Firestone Indy Lights Championship. He finished fourth in the points there this season.