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Franchitti fizzles in NASCAR

Dario Franchitti, last year’s IndyCar Series winner, won’t be fighting Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves for another championship Sunday at Chicago.Instead, Franchitti will be watching from the Target Chip Ganassi Racing pits.

Franchitti, who drove for Andretti Green Racing in 2007, stole the victory — and title — from Dixon at Chicagoland Speedway in 2007, after Dixon ran out of fuel while leading the race with two turns left.

After claiming the series title, Franchitti followed in the footsteps of a number of other open-wheel competitors and joined the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

He proceeded to bomb, losing his sponsor and ride at Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.

How on earth did someone of Franchitti’s ability — he won the 2007 Indy 500 — struggle so badly in stock-car racing?

Just ask former Formula One winner Juan Pablo Montoya, who also drives in Sprint Cup for Ganassi, or 2006 Indy 500 champion Sam Hornish Jr., who is having his problems at Penske Racing.

Running up front week in, week out in stock-car racing’s premier series might appear easy if you’re Jimmie Johnson or Kyle Busch, but in truth, it is the hardest thing to do in racing.

And that’s if you are in a top team, which Ganassi hasn’t been in a long time.

You need the team.

You need the sponsors.

You need an engine builder.

You need a smart crew chief.

You need time.

You need information.

You don’t get there just by being successful in another series, particularly in one that has very few similarities to Sprint Cup.

Franchitti is one of the best open-wheel racers around, but he didn’t arrive in NASCAR from the short tracks. He didn’t drive late-models, he didn’t drive super modifieds or sprint cars or midgets.

He didn’t race on quarter-mile and half-mile ovals. He didn’t rub fenders at bull-rings. He didn’t drive big, heavy cars with marginal brakes and slow reflexes.

Montoya, one of the most brilliant and aggressive F1 drivers of recent times, is treading water at Ganassi, where he might just sink or abandon ship.

Franchitti jumped into the deep end when he joined NASCAR. He drove some ARCA and Nationwide races, but people expected him — and Montoya and Hornish — to be an overnight Sprint Cup success.

Didn’t happen — particularly at a Cup team that is performing poorly and losing financial support.

Franchitti, 35, did not race at Auto City Speedway in Flint or Toledo Speedway like Brad Keselowski of Rochester Hills, who will be running Sprint Cup soon.

He didn’t run at Terre Haute or Salem Speedway in Indiana like Tony Stewart, a two-time Cup champ, as a teen.

Franchitti drove formula and touring cars in Europe and did very well. He drove CART and IndyCar vehicles in America and did exceptionally.

“I’m very excited to be coming back to the IndyCar Series,” Franchitti said. “I think the schedule for next year was a big part of my decision. I’m really looking forward to being part of the team going forward and having (Scott Dixon) as a teammate.”

It appears Franchitti is home again, driving in 2009 for Target Chip Ganassi Racing.

Perhaps Montoya and some others should join him.