FanHouse DarioFranchitti

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- It was as if Dario Franchitti never left.

The 36-year old Scot returned from a don't-look-back 2008 NASCAR experiment to reclaim the IndyCar Series championship trophy he took with him, sealing the deal on his second title Saturday night in nearly identical fashion to how he earned the first in 2007.

While Team Penske driver Ryan Briscoe and Franchitti's Target Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon traded the race lead and led the most laps in the Indy 300 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Franchitti laid back in third position, saved just enough fuel and inherited the lead when Briscoe and Dixon was forced to pit for fuel in the waning laps of the series' first ever caution-free race.

SONOMA, Calif. (AP) -- Dario Franchitti hoisted a celebratory glass of red wine to his lips in a long-awaited moment for the IndyCar driver at Infineon Raceway.

Such is tradition for the winner in a race set in the heart of Sonoma County's wine country.

Franchitti finally won on a challenging course where he's been so close before, leading from start to finish to capture his first Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma on Sunday in the final road course race of the year.

Ryan Hunter-Reay wasn't fast enough to earn a spot in next Sunday's Indianapolis 500 as he exited Turn 4 on his final lap of qualifying Sunday at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

But somehow, someway, the 28-year-old Floridian conjured up just enough speed in the final few seconds -- the final hundred yards -- to make the field by three hundredths of a second (.03) bumping out Canadian Alex Tagliani, who was sitting in his car, next in line to qualify, as the traditional gun shot sounded ending qualifications.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Sure, NASCAR has the high-wattage personalities. Drag racing has the raw speed and IndyCar racing can't be beat for pure, wheel-to-wheel excitement.

But this weekend's Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway represents the truest form of racing in America and is arguably the toughest 24-hour race in the world.

The starting grid is eclectic and richly-talented; the racing diverse and pure - right turns, left turns, high-speed high-banks and tricky chicanes; the conditions unique - daylight, moonlight, rain or shine.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- In one of the first full-length interviews Dario Franchitti has given since leaving NASCAR in the middle of the 2008 season, the former Indy 500 winner said he's still open to racing stock cars.

Just not anytime soon.

Dario Franchitti is done with NASCAR, and if you're surprised, then, well, you shouldn't be.

Franchitti announced Tuesday that he'd be heading back to life in the IRL IndyCar Series with the same owner who drove for in NASCAR, Chip Ganassi. The move was a little puzzling especially knowing that Franchitti would be replacing Dan Wheldon -- one of the series' top drivers.

But more telling of Franchitti's move was how quickly the idea by NASCAR owners to bring open-wheel talent to NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series with limited stock car experience at best became a bust.

Franchitti is the third driver to take the reins in NASCAR with intentions of making a long-term career move at the beginning of 2008 to succumb to the economics of NASCAR. In other words, open-wheel drivers with limited experience struggle early in their stock car careers and sponsors just don't want to spend money and time on such a move.

That list includes Franchitti, Jacques Villenueve and Patrick Carpentier, and leaves just one question.

Who's next?

Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates has to be scrambling to come up something -- anything -- in the way of sponsorship for 2009 with Wednesday's news about the sponsor of Juan Pablo Montoya's No. 42.

From Sirius Speedway's blog, "The Motorsports Soapbox":

Sirius Speedway has learned that Chevron-Texaco will not return as sponsor of Juan Pablo Montoya's #42 Dodge next season. [...]

Texaco-Havoline will not move to another team in 2009, electing instead to end their longstanding involvement in NASCAR. That decision leaves Ganassi Racing in need of at least two new sponsors in 2009, and possibly three. Team owner Chip Ganassi recently parked the #40 Dodge driven by Dario Franchitti due to lack of sponsorship, and there are longstanding rumors that Target may not return to the #41 Dodge currently driven by Reed Sorenson.

Of all the sponsorships one would have expected to stay with NASCAR, the Texaco-Havoline ride is near the top of the list mainly because of the staying power it has had in Sprint Cup Series competition.

Yeah, ESPY fans -- all 32 of you! -- sorry about that headline.

But for the rest of the world who more than likely won't be watching the ESPY's on Sunday, ESPN is apologetic of that fact and announced the winners of each award Thursday on their web site. They show gets taped on Wednesday night and then aired Sunday.

And during that show (I don't know if Johnson was on hand for the ceremony or not, I guess you'll have to watch to find out. What suspense!) Jimmie Johnson was awarded "Best Driver". Last season, Jeff Gordon received the same honor, so Johnson is just continuing the dominance of Hendrick Motorsports.

Kyle Busch, who is dominating what really matters on the track, was snubbed for the award along with Dario Franchitti (for winning the Indianapolis 500 in 2007), Lewis Hamilton (for not winning the F1 championship in 2007), and Tony Schumacher (for kicking the rest of the field for a few years now in NHRA Top Fuel competition).

After blowing up colorful projectiles in name of freedom on the 4th, hang out with FanHouse for the Coke Zero 400 Live Blog Saturday night at 7:45pm/ET.

Did Chip Ganassi give up on Dario Franchitti as a Sprint Cup driver?

All signs point that way after Tuesday's announcement that Franchitti's No. 40 team is now a defunct asset in the Ganassi racing stable.

The team owner cited a lack of funding as the reason why the No. 40 won't be competing anymore in 2008, effective for this weekend's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. The team has lacked full-time sponsorship all season, but has seemed to get by with a little help from multiple sources, including Fastenal, Tums, Target, and others.

But if Robby Gordon or Yates Racing can race all season with less than perfect sponsorship packages, how in the world can Chip Ganassi -- a true racing mogul -- not afford to run a team through at least one of NASCAR's crown jewel events?

To me, Ganassi's unwillingness to keep Franchitti in through Daytona shows that he isn't satisfied with Franchitti's performance in his first season in Sprint Cup. Franchitti's stats of no Top-5s, no Top-10s, and an average finish of 34th don't do much in his defense.

Regardless, its still surprising to me to know that Ganassi is essentially giving up on a Sprint Cup program for a guy he knew would struggle. A reason that Ganassi gave last fall when he fired David Stremme from the No. 40 ride was that he felt Franchitti either had sponsorship dollars with him or could bring them in more easily.

Then, it looked like Stremme was the victim, but now its looking like he got out at the right time from what seems to be an imploding Ganassi racing.

No worries for Mr. Franchitti though. He still has a backup gig of fighting crime without pants.