Ganassi: Shutting No. 40 team down was about economics, not Franchitti
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Chip Ganassi says the shutting down of the No. 40 team was not about driver Dario Franchitti but it was about being unable to find a sponsor.
He shut down the team Tuesday, parking Franchitti’s initial Sprint Cup season, because “to fund these cars out of your pocket I don’t think makes sense.”
“You get to a point where you say, ‘Wait a minute, the bleeding has to stop here,’” Ganassi said Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. “You run the risk of pulling down two well-funded other cars and I don’t want to do that. That’s not fair to the sponsors that are on the other cars. … Unfortunately we had to lay off a lot of good employees.
“I’m disappointed and hurt about that.”
Ganassi said sponsorship is tied to performance. The No. 40 team was 40th in owner points, while the No. 42 team with driver Juan Pablo Montoya is 21st in owners points and the No. 41 team with driver Reed Sorenson is 31st in owners points.
“There’s no team that runs well that is not funded well,” Ganassi said. “It’s a chicken-and-egg thing. If you run well, you get sponsors. If you don’t run well, you need money and you don’t get sponsors.”
The No. 40 team was not guaranteed a spot in the race week to week after the fifth race of the 2008 season as it had fallen outside the top 35 in owners points. Franchitti then missed the seventh race of the year at Texas, and later missed five races because of an injury.
“Any of the people that we were talking to, it wasn’t really a concern of theirs,” Ganassi said. “I think some of the bigger name sponsors around the sport that are out looking, that might be a concern to them [and] maybe others that have been through that already that are looking right now, but we weren’t troubled by that.”
Insisting that his team was not in disarray, Ganassi said he eventually would like to get back to three teams and it’s just a tough business environment. He said he would consider an investor but is not actively looking for one.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with the popularity of NASCAR,” Ganassi said. “I’m in NASCAR to stay.”
Sorenson has said he is in the final year of his contract, but Ganassi wouldn’t speculate on whether Sorenson would return or if he doesn’t if Franchitti could replace him in the No. 41 car.
“I don’t talk about my drivers and contracts,” Ganassi said.
Franchiti’s future is up in the air. He could opt to run in the Nationwide Series the rest of the season for Ganassi.
“I talk to him every day – we’re working hard trying to keep his NASCAR career alive, wherever that takes us,” Ganassi said, latter adding, "I'm perfectly secure in his performance."
And what if other opportunities come his way?
“I’m concerned all of my drivers all of the time,” Ganassi said. “If they have opportunities, I would hardly stand in their way.”
