Franchitti Back on Track

Life has never been busier for Bathgate-born Dario Franchitti after his Indy 500 win in the Indy Car series last year. The former karting driver, who won Scottish & British Junior Karting Championship as well as the British Senior Karting Championship went on to win the 2007 Indy Car Championship after 3 other individual race wins at Newton, Iowa; Richmond, Virginia; and Joliet, Illinois

The Indy 500 champ is also married to American actress Ashley Judd as the hectic showbiz lifestyle continues. With the media clamouring for the new celebrity couple to replace Posh & Becks, Franchitti is never out of the limelight.

After his Indy Car Championship win, NASCAR came calling and he signed up for Chip Ganassi Racing and is racing in both the Nationwide Series and the Sprint Cup in the 2008 season.

 Franchitti also has to adjust from racing a one-seater car to a stock car. This transition will take time for the 34 year old but he has already made significant progress in NASCAR – especially the Nationwide Series.

As said earlier, the Nationwide Series has brought the Scot relative success in his first 3 races with a 20th, 24th and most recently a 6th place finish. This has left Franchitti in 9th place in the overall standings for the series.

The Sprint Cup, however, is a much more competitive series and the Scot has struggled to break into the top 25 with a 26th, 33rd, 32nd and another 33rd place finish to leave him 36th in the overall standings.

These figures may suggest doom and gloom for Franchitti but he currently shows that he has adjusted best to NASCAR compared to his fellow rookies. He currently tops the Raybestos Rookie of the Year for the Sprint Cup standings ahead of his 4 rivals.

Things are expected to pick up for Franchitti in future Sprint Cup races as he begins to grow the necessary experience in NASCAR. The team are trying to make the process speedier by entering him into the Nationwide Series to gain racing experience in a Stock Car and smooth out the transition from Indy Cars.

With 24 Sprint Cup races and 32 Nationwide Series races still to take place there is plenty of time for Franchitti to improve on performances and make it into the top 12 of the Sprint Cup standings to qualify for the ‘Chase for the Sprint Cup’ races at the end of the season.