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IndyCar Features & Interviews
IndyCar Feature - Franchitti Heads To NASCAR
07/10/2007
Dario Franchitti is relishing his new career challenge after announcing he will race full-time in NASCAR for Chip Ganassi Racing. The reigning IndyCar Series and Indy 500 champion will turn his back on more than ten years of open-wheel racing to follow the path of former CART rival and future NASCAR Sprint Cup teammate Juan Pablo Montoya.
The newly-signed Ganassi driver expects the move to be a tough one as it has proved to be for Montoya this year.
"I've had 11 great years in open-wheel racing," Franchitti said while being introduced at Chip Ganassi's headquarters before his debut. "The time came for a new challenge. And this is it. It's going to be a heck of a challenge to learn everything.
"I'm sitting here just now with an experience of zero, and I'm going to be relying a lot on my new teammates. I've already started quizzing Juan this morning."
Franchitti said it was a difficult decision for him choosing not to defend his Indy 500 win next year, as it will be impossible for him to make the race in 2008 due to conflicting schedules with his Sprint Cup commitments.
"When I weighed out the pros and cons of making this move, not defending the 500 win was tough because it meant so much to me," Franchitti added. "That was one of the hardest parts of making the decision. Winning the 500 was a special feeling."
The Scot admitted that his two flips in the last few races in the IRL this year played a role in his decision to quit the series and move to NASCAR. He also said that achieving his goals in the IRL made his decision to switch much easier.
"I'd be lying if I said [the flips] were not [a factor in the decision]. It definitely was a small part of the decision," Franchitti said. "But there is a lot more to it than that. I've been intrigued by the challenge of NASCAR for quite a while, and that was the overriding decision.
"Winning the Indy 500 and the championship just made that decision easier because I achieved what I wanted to achieve."
The Scotsman’s NASCAR debut came in the ARCA RE/MAX 250 at Talladega Superspeedway, and he had a respectable run in his stock car debut to finish 17th.
He had qualified sixth for the race but his team was faced with an oil contamination problem following qualifying. They had to change parts on both his car and that of teammate and polesitter Bryan Clauson, breaking the impound rules and being sent to the back of the grid as a result.
From there, Franchitti was able to make his way up in the draft to break into the top ten, but dropped back again later. He was on the move in the last few laps but couldn't catch up with the leading line of cars to finish the race in a higher position.
"It was really good fun," Franchitti said. "I learned a lot. The first part I was really just drafting like you would do in the IndyCar and by the first pit stop I was starting to figure it out. I was starting to side-draft and bump-draft a bit which is good fun.
"It's a bizarre feeling just to go and ram someone there but a couple of guys were really helping me. In the last two stints I was having it flat-footed the whole way, no brake, nothing. Just trying to get momentum. It was just a great learning experience."
The only real drama during the race for Franchitti came after lap 30 when he pitted for the first time under caution. He had trouble getting into his pit stall, which meant he dropped from 10th place to 18th.
"I completely messed up the first pit stop," Franchitti said. "I let the revs get too low and the power steering stopped working, so I couldn't get in the box right. I had the best crew there and I made a complete mess of it myself."
The IRL and Indy 500 champion was left a little disappointed with the result and the fact that despite having a fast car he was not able to run at the front when it mattered. He put it down to his lack of experience in the draft, as he had just a few laps to test in such conditions before the race.
"It was in the plan there to get to the front but we just didn't have [the speed]," he said. "The car got a little bit tight and I'm just not good enough yet a drafter to get there I would say. My restarts were good but I'm just lacking that bit of experience, I think, to get to the front. It's more me than the car right now."
Franchitti said he doesn't know yet where he will race next, but he is likely to kick off his NASCAR Busch Series career next weekend at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
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