Ganassi had raced in the IndyCar World Series himself before a crash at Michigan in 1984 cut his driving career short. In 1989, he co-owned the Marlboro IndyCar team with Pat Patrick, backing Emerson Fittipaldi. When Patrick changed his mind about retirement but honored the sale, Ganassi took full control and officially launched Chip Ganassi Racing for 1990 with former Formula One driver Eddie Cheever, using the remnant Penske chassis from the previous season and Target as the primary sponsor.
The team rose steadily through the CART field. Michael Andretti brought the first CGR victory at the 1994 Surfers Paradise opener. The team then established itself as CART's benchmark operation, winning four consecutive drivers' championships: Jimmy Vasser in 1996, Alex Zanardi in 1997 and 1998, and Juan Pablo Montoya in 1999. Montoya's title in his rookie season was a particular statement of the team's strength.
In 2000, Chip Ganassi Racing became the first CART team to break ranks and return to the Indianapolis 500 as part of the rival Indy Racing League. Montoya dominated the race for a resounding victory. The move signaled the team's gradual transition to the IRL full-time, which was completed by 2002 with Scott Dixon, who joined in the latter part of the 2002 CART season, anchoring the operation.
Dixon won the IndyCar championship in his first full season with the team in 2003. The team continued to grow as a force in the IndyCar Series, adding Dario Franchitti in 2009. Between 2008 and 2011, the team won four consecutive IndyCar championships — Dixon in 2008, Franchitti in 2009, 2010, and 2011 — the same feat the team had accomplished in CART a decade earlier. Franchitti won three of his four IndyCar championships with CGR, including wins at the Indianapolis 500 in 2010 and 2012. Dixon won his third IndyCar title in 2013 and a fourth in 2015.
During the team's CART years, the most significant drivers were Vasser, Zanardi — whose back-to-back titles featured commanding performances — and Montoya, who also won the 2000 Indianapolis 500 in his single season with the team before departing for Formula One. In the IndyCar era, Dixon became the defining figure of the franchise, winning six IndyCar titles with the team through 2020. Franchitti's four championships and three Indy 500 victories placed him among the most decorated drivers in team history before a crash at Houston in 2013 forced his retirement.
Dan Wheldon drove for the team from 2006 to 2008, winning several races including the 2006 24 Hours of Daytona alongside Dixon and Casey Mears. Álex Palou won his first IndyCar title with the team in 2021, becoming the third Ganassi driver to win the championship in the IndyCar era.
CGR built a parallel sports car program that produced three consecutive 24 Hours of Daytona victories in 2006, 2007, and 2008, with a combined cast of IndyCar and NASCAR drivers. Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas won multiple Grand-Am championships for the team. In 2016, CGR entered the FIA World Endurance Championship as Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, running the new Ford GT at Le Mans and earning class podiums in both 2016 and 2017.
The team also competed in NASCAR Cup and Xfinity series from 2001 until selling the entire NASCAR operation to Trackhouse Racing after the 2021 season, having fielded notable drivers including Sterling Marlin, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Larson, and Ross Chastain.
Across all categories, Chip Ganassi Racing has accumulated more than 200 wins. The team's ability to win championships in consecutive eras — CART in the late 1990s and IndyCar across the 2000s and 2010s — places it alongside Team Penske as one of American open-wheel racing's two dominant multi-decade institutions. The Target sponsorship that ran from the team's founding through 2016 gave the team its long-running identity as Target Chip Ganassi Racing, one of the most recognized liveries in IndyCar history.