Franchitti Out of the Sprint Cup!
Written by Rich Hemstreet · July 2, 2008
Chip Ganassi pulled the plug on the #40 Cup team. He says they ran out of sponsorship. With Dario running 41st in the point standings the decision apparently wasn’t too difficult. It was announced that Franchitti is scheduled to continue driving in the Nationwide Series, but he isn’t listed on the pre-entry list with NASCAR, so who knows?
Other then Montoya the recent crop of open wheel drivers don’t seem to be adapting very quickly. I wouldn’t be surprised to see several of them return to the IRL now that the two open wheel circuits are unified. I think there are too many Nationwide and Craftsman Series drivers to chose from, owners don’t need to take a chance on big name open wheel drivers.
The one exception would be… Danica Patrick. If a top team opened up a ride for her the sponsorship should be easy to find. I’m not a big fan of hers, but she has a huge following and great name recognition. Now that she has had some more seasoning in the IRL the time might be right to make a play for her. Could you imagine her in the Gibbs #20 car next season?
Finally, with the #40 team out of the Cup picture it will give the Woods Brothers a better shot at making the field… after Daytona. Usually two or three cars are sent home each week. So now it should be down to just one or two that miss the field.
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2 Responses to “Franchitti Out of the Sprint Cup!”
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I should write some 10,000 word essay about this, but instead I’ll keep it simple:
Told ya so!
FastDouglas
Keep Dario and get rid of Reed!