Franchitti moving to NASCAR for 'new challenge'

CONCORD, N.C. - Never has the reigning Indianapolis 500 champion made a switch to NASCAR, and Dario Franchitti admits he has thought about not being able to defend racing's biggest crown.

"When I weighed out the pros and cons of making this move, [knowing] not defending the 500 win was tough because it meant so much to me," Franchitti said Wednesday when he was introduced as the driver of the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 40 Sprint Cup car for 2008.

"That was one of the hardest parts of making the decision. ... Winning the 500 was a special feeling. I'm going to take [this] one race at a time. I've just got to try to win that first race [in NASCAR]. Just to do that will be hugely difficult."

Franchitti, who also won the Indy Racing League title in 2007 in a tight battle with Ganassi's Scott Dixon, said it was time for a change.

In fact, he had talked with Ganassi about being the driver of the No. 42 car last year, and Ganassi said that Franchitti would have
been the driver if not for Juan Pablo Montoya's expression of interest in the ride.

"I've had 11 great years in open-wheel racing," the 34-year-old Franchitti said. "The time came for a new challenge. And this is it. It's going to be a heck of a challenge to learn everything.

"I'm sitting here just now with an experience of zero, and I'm going to be relying a lot on my new teammates. I've already started quizzing Juan this morning."

Franchitti also had two wild flips last year in the IRL.

"I'd be lying if I said they were not [a factor in the decision]," he said. "It definitely was a small part of the decision. But there is a lot
more to it than that. I've been intrigued by the challenge of NASCAR for quite a while, and that was the overriding the decision.

"Winning the Indy 500 and the championship just made that decision easier because I achieved what I wanted to achieve."

The deal between Ganassi and Franchitti had been reached weeks ago, before the IRL champion was decided - one where Dixon ran out of gas on the final lap to allow Franchitti to claim the championship.

"I was a winner either way that day," Ganassi said. "It was unfortunate for Scott Dixon."

Franchitti joins a slew of other open-wheel drivers to enter the sport and likely will be joined as rookie with former Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve and three-time IRL champion Sam Hornish Jr.

Both Villeneuve and Hornish hope to make their Cup debuts this weekend at Talladega. Hornish has failed to make his first two Cup events.

"I talked to Sam a little bit," Franchitti said. "I was surprised that he has failed to qualify because he is a hell of a driver. That's one of those points where I look at what I'm about to do, and I realize the task ahead of me and how difficult this is going to be."

Franchitti likely will be joined by Ganassi IRL driver Dan Wheldon in NASCAR in the next couple of years.

"Certainly it will happen one day," Ganassi said. "Dan is a lot younger [at 27] than these guys. He's got plenty of good years left in IndyCar racing. But he knows he can make the switch. Whenever he wants to push the button with me, he knows where it is, and he knows how to do it."

• Mentioned Drivers:
• Dario Franchitti