Ryan Briscoe was slated to return to the IndyCar Series full-time this year, driving the National Guard sponsored car for Panther Racing. In what has been a whirlwind of an off-season, another twist came today. After being released from his contract with Panther, Briscoe has landed a seat with his old boss, Chip Ganassi. His new teammate Tony Kanaan has already been promoted after a month on the job. The Indy 500 champion will take over the reins of the number 10 Target car, previously driven by Dario Franchitti.

Franchitti’s retirement took the racing community by storm, and left a massive void in the sport. Suddenly, one of the best seats in open-wheel racing was available. The only problem was, the high-profile drivers like James Hinchcliffe and Sebastien Bourdais had already signed new contracts with their respective teams. Kanaan himself had already signed to drive the number 8 NTT Data car for Ganassi, but he’ll join Scott Dixon on the “A Team”.

Briscoe returns to Chip’s team after driving for him in 2005. He drove for Roger Penske from 2008-2012, and didn’t have a full-time ride last year, although he did pilot the number 4 car for Panther in six races after they relieved JR Hildebrand of his driving duties.

The 32 year old Australian has already driven for Ganassi in two Indianapolis 500 races. He finished in 10th in 2005, and came home 12th last year in a one-off ride, ironically the same car he’ll be driving full-time next year. Ryan was the pole sitter for the 2012 race at Indy. His best season came in 2009 when he nearly won the championship with Team Penske.

While many fans were clamoring for a bigger splash, perhaps they need to take a closer look at Briscoe’s record on the track. He has a win percentage of 7.3% (8 wins in 109 starts). There are only four active drivers (Bourdais, Power, Dixon, Castroneves) with a better win percentage. Not only is that pretty good, you have to consider that he is the best driver available, and he’s a very good spokesperson for his sponsors – which is always good.