page_title: Dario Franchitti
section_title: NASCAR
hierarchical_section_title: Dario Franchitti / NASCAR
caption_attribution_description: English: Dario Franchitti racing during the 2007 Ford 300 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.
context_page_description: George Dario Marino Franchitti, MBE is a Scottish former racing driver and current motorsport commentator from Scotland. He is a four time IndyCar Series champion, a three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 as well as a winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona.
  Franchitti started his career in his native United Kingdom in the early 1990s, competing in Formula Vauxhall and Formula Three and was also the winner of the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award in 1992. After Franchitti did not secure a single-seater drive in 1995, he was contracted by the AMG team to compete in touring cars in the DTM and its successor – the International Touring Car Championship. Despite 2 seasons with relative success, the series folded at the end of the 1996 season, again leaving Franchitti without a drive. Mercedes placed Franchitti in CART in 1997 with the Hogan Racing team.
  Franchitti spent 6 seasons in CART, where he won 10 races with the Team Green squad that he joined in 1998; he failed to win a championship title, with a best final position of 2nd-place in 1999, behind Juan Pablo Montoya in a tie-breaker. Team Green moved to the IndyCar Series for the 2003 campaign, with Franchitti remaining in the team.
context_section_description: On 3 October 2007, it was announced that Franchitti would move to NASCAR to replace David Stremme in the No. 40 Dodge. He made his stock car debut in the ARCA RE/MAX Series on 5 October at Talladega Superspeedway, qualifying 6th and finishing 17th in the No. 42 Dodge Charger for Chip Ganassi Racing. His move to stock cars had similarities to former CART rival Juan Pablo Montoya's move from Formula One to NASCAR in 2006.
  Franchitti made his first NASCAR start on 20 October 2007 in the Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway. He drove the No. 41 Dodge Ram truck, owned by Cunningham Motorsports, with Brian Pattie from Chip Ganassi Racing serving as crew chief. He would finish 33rd after being plagued by problems with the rear of the truck during the race.
  On 26 April 2008, Franchitti suffered a slight left ankle fracture in a hard crash with Larry Gunselman while competing in the Nationwide Series Aaron's 312 race. David Stremme, Ken Schrader, Jeremy Mayfield, and Sterling Marlin all filled in for him.
  On 1 July 2008, Franchitti's No. 40 Sprint Cup team was disbanded by co-owner Chip Ganassi because of a lack of sponsorship. Franchitti was running 41st in points in the Sprint Cup Series at the time, and Ganassi had been funding the team out of his own pocket. The entire No. 40 team was shut down, and 71 employees were released. Franchitti would continue to drive for Ganassi in the Nationwide Series for the remainder of the season following the disbanding of the Cup team.
  On 9 August 2008 Franchitti won his first career Nationwide pole at Watkins Glen. Starting alongside Robby Gordon, Franchitti led 13 laps and came close to the win. He battled Jimmie Johnson throughout the day, but was overtaken by some drivers late in the race. Franchitti finished 5th while Johnson ran out of gas.
caption: Franchitti racing in the 2007 Ford 300 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway
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