Chip Ganassi Racing managing director Mike Hull wasn’t necessarily looking to add another quality lead engineer to the team's staff, but when Michael Cannon left Dale Coyne Racing, Hull was quick to sign Cannon to the NTT IndyCar Series team.

Cannon spent this past season working with 21-year-old Santino Ferrucci, a Connecticut driver who was one of the big surprises of the recently completed season because of his speed and skill, especially on the ovals.

Coyne had an engineer-rich team led by Craig Hampson, who guided Sebastien Bourdais to four consecutive Champ Car World Series titles from 2004-2007 with Newman Haas Lanigan Racing. Hampson and Bourdais have been reunited at DCR and have enjoyed some success.

Olivier Boisson was another member of DCR’s engineering staff, who moves over to work with the driver of the No. 19 Honda.

Cannon’s role at Chip Ganassi Racing has not been officially announced, but Hull was effusive in his praise of the engineer.

“We’ll announce the direction we are going with Michael soon,” Hull told NTT INDYCAR Mobile. “What I will say is when lead engineers like Michael become available, you have to take the time to listen to them and talk to them. It’s really important to do that because it provides you with fresh thinking and new ideas.

“The fresh thinking has a positive impact on your existing group of engineers and people and makes you re-think a lot of the things you work on.

“He is a quality person and he has worked at some great locations over multiple years. He brings a lot to the table. He will fit in well with our existing group. We are not displacing or showing someone the door because he is coming in, we are just adding to the group. That is really, really important.”

Hull believes the key to success with any NTT IndyCar Series team begins in the engineering department. This team includes Dixon, Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Ericsson in 2020.

“Let’s face it, today, for lots of reasons, engineering drives racing,” Hull said. “The thought process from that group of people energizes everything we do. That is fresh energy and a fresh thought process for us. We are happy he is on board.”

Cannon began as an assistant engineer with Patrick Carpentier in 1998. He has also worked with Alex Tagliani and Paul Tracy. Additionally, Cannon has worked with Tony Kanaan, AJ Allmendinger, Buddy Rice, Ed Jones Pietro Fittipaldi, Zachary Claman De Melo and Ferrucci.

Scott Dixon’s longtime engineer, Chris Simmons, remains with the team, but his role will be revealed later, according to Hull.

“We will announce that soon,” Hull said. “Chris isn’t going anywhere, so we are good with that.”