| | | | | | BACK TO BEFORE | After stock car try Franchitti to return to open-wheel racing | |
| | Reid Spencer / SportingNews.com Already abbreviated by injury and lack of sponsorship, Dario Franchitti's career in NASCAR racing will come to an end this year, Chip Ganassi Racing announced Tuesday.
Though Franchitti says he hasn't ruled out a return to stock cars in the future, he will drive Ganassi's No. 10 Target Honda as a teammate to Scott Dixon in the IndyCar Series next season.
The 2007 Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar Series champion, Franchitti started the season in Ganassi's No. 40 Dodge in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series, but he fractured his left ankle in a wreck in a Nationwide Series race April 26 at Talladega.
Franchitti returned to the Cup car for the June 8 Pocono 500 but failed to qualify for the Cup event at the Infineon Raceway road course two weeks later. On July 1, two days after Franchitti posted a 38th-place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Ganassi pulled the plug on the No. 40 team, citing lack of sponsorship money necessary to sustain its operation.
Since then, Franchitti has competed in four Nationwide races for Ganassi, with his best finish a fifth at Watkins Glen, where he also won the pole.
"Part of the reason I signed with Ganassi last year was because of how many options that Chip has at his disposal for a driver," Franchitti said in press release issued Tuesday by the team. "You can do almost any form of racing that you want. With unification (of the Champ Car and IndyCar Series) and the new schedule having more road and street courses, it made me think about this more and more.
"I have really enjoyed this last season in stock cars and have not completely closed that chapter of my professional career, but the opportunity that arose was just something I could not pass up."
Franchitti has 18 victories and 17 poles in the CART and IndyCar Series combined.
| | Posted September 03, 2008 , 7:15 pm EST
Last Updated September 04, 2008 , 5:48 pm EST | | | | | | | | | | |
