Scotland’s Dario Franchitti has been left without a drive in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series after his Chip Ganassi Racing team decided to scale back its operation.
Team owner Chip Ganassi will run with just two cars at this weekend’s race in Daytona, and for the rest of the season, after the plug was pulled on Franchitti’s number 40 car due to a lack of sponsorship.
“This is a difficult decision…that did not come without its share of anguish,” said Ganassi in a statement. “In this tough business environment continuing to run the car without proper funding has become increasingly difficult.”
Franchitti, 35, won the Indianapolis 500 last year and then switched to stock-car racing this season with the team of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. He was one of several open-wheel drivers who have switched to NASCAR in the last two years.
But as Franchitti tried to adapt to NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, the Scottish driver of Italian descent broke his ankle in an April crash and missed several races.
At the same time, Ganassi struggled to find a permanent primary sponsor for the No. 40 car to replace the beer brand Coors Light, which quit after last season. The cost of fielding a NASCAR Cup team can hit $10 million or more a year.
Franchitti ran in only 10 of the series’ 17 races so far this year and was 41st in driver points. The team said Franchitti might continue driving this year in NASCAR’s second-tier Nationwide Series.
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