Ganassi withdraws No. 40 car
Posted: Thursday May 15, 2008 08:20AM ET
With driver Dario Franchitti still on the mend, the unsponsored No. 40 Chip Ganassi Racing team will withdraw from the NASCAR Sprint Showdown non-points event, which is scheduled for Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway, a Chip Ganassi spokesman confirmed. Franchitti, the defending Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar Series champion, broke his left ankle in a crash during the Nationwide Series race April 26 at Talladega Superspeedway. The team has used David Stremme, Ken Schrader and Sterling Marlin in his place. With the car not having sponsorship for the all-star event and with Franchitti still nursing the injury, the decision was made to withdraw. Franchitti will be re-evaluated to see if he can drive in the Coca-Cola 600 next week.
Dario Franchitti , AP
Comments (10)
This is a bad sign for Ganassi's entire organization if he can't field three cars. Dario Franchitti was going nowhere as a driver even before his injury, and in effect shutting down the #40 will not make anything better.
STP43FAN | 05/15/08, 11:00 AM
Report Offensive CommentHe's not shutting down the #40, but if Franchitti isn't good to go why potentially destroy a car in a non-points race?
SithLord196 | 05/15/08, 12:14 PM
Report Offensive CommentThis whole thing with making Kyle Busch the most hated man in Nascar is getting out of control, now this boy has done nothing to deserve to be hated. So what he is winning races, the boy can race, he is very talented. I guess being good and knowing you are good is a bad thing now.
bamaprincess76 | 05/15/08, 02:19 PM
Report Offensive CommentWhat does this topic have to do with Kyle Busch?
JKINDELRAY | 05/15/08, 03:19 PM
Report Offensive CommentDont know....but 76 was a good year.
jackman! | 05/15/08, 03:23 PM
Report Offensive CommentShould of never got rid of Stremme, the #40 team has been on a downward spiral since releasing David. And look at the year he's having in the Nationwide series.
indiana_idoc | 05/15/08, 04:00 PM
Report Offensive CommentLook what engine Stremme has under the hood in the Nationwide Series now. Still, he is doing very well.
I don't think Franchitti was ready. Once again, I do not believe he can't race in NASCAR, but he isn't a natural talent like Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and JPM. He definitely needed more development time, like Ambrose and Scott Speed are getting.
SithLord196 | 05/15/08, 05:55 PM
Report Offensive CommentFranchitti is tentative in traffic - development won't make him attack the tracks and traffic better. If you're a soft driver, that stays with you - you either have the aggression or you don't.
As for shutting down the #40, they may race again but given their inability to land sponsors I'm not sure.
STP43FAN | 05/15/08, 07:11 PM
Report Offensive Commentyeah it's the sponsors issues that is the real cause and yeah why spend on a no points race, Lots of ok drivers could drive the car till Franchitti heals up, so his injury not the problem.
Luvdatracin | 05/16/08, 10:34 AM
Report Offensive Commentthis team fell apart when Sterling Marlin broke his neck a couple of years ago
JDawg1447(www.freerice.com) | 05/17/08, 08:13 AM
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