wilson89
Team Owner
Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates shut down the No. 40 Dodge team of driver Dario Franchitti, laid off about 71 employees on Tuesday and is finished for the balance of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.
The team has run most of the season without a sponsor, but will not continue to run the full schedule. Thus, Ganassi becomes the second multi-car team to close down an unsponsored team car. Earlier this season, Bill Davis Racing shut down its No. 27 Toyota and released Jacques Villeneuve after sponsorship could not be secured for that team.
“This is a difficult decision for Felix and I that did not come without its share of anguish,' said team owner Chip Ganassi in a statement released by the team shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday. “In this tough business environment continuing to run the car without proper funding has become increasingly difficult.”
Franchitti, the 2007 IndyCar champion and Indy 500 winner, began the season with high expectations, but his brief tenure here was anything but happy. He broke his left ankle in a NASCAR Nationwide Series crash in April and missed five Sprint Cup races as a result. He also failed to qualify for two others.
More tellingly, in the 10 starts Franchitti
made in the Sprint Cup series, his best finish was a 22nd at Martinsville in April. His other nine finishes were all 32nd or worse. Franchitti finished 38th in Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Franchitti’s status remains to be seen. The Ganassi team said in its release that it “is committed to Franchitti's continued stock-car development and are currently in discussions with him on his racing options with the team which could include running the balance of the 2008 Nationwide season in the No. 40 Fastenal Dodge.”
The team has run most of the season without a sponsor, but will not continue to run the full schedule. Thus, Ganassi becomes the second multi-car team to close down an unsponsored team car. Earlier this season, Bill Davis Racing shut down its No. 27 Toyota and released Jacques Villeneuve after sponsorship could not be secured for that team.
“This is a difficult decision for Felix and I that did not come without its share of anguish,' said team owner Chip Ganassi in a statement released by the team shortly before 5 p.m. Tuesday. “In this tough business environment continuing to run the car without proper funding has become increasingly difficult.”
Franchitti, the 2007 IndyCar champion and Indy 500 winner, began the season with high expectations, but his brief tenure here was anything but happy. He broke his left ankle in a NASCAR Nationwide Series crash in April and missed five Sprint Cup races as a result. He also failed to qualify for two others.
More tellingly, in the 10 starts Franchitti
made in the Sprint Cup series, his best finish was a 22nd at Martinsville in April. His other nine finishes were all 32nd or worse. Franchitti finished 38th in Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Franchitti’s status remains to be seen. The Ganassi team said in its release that it “is committed to Franchitti's continued stock-car development and are currently in discussions with him on his racing options with the team which could include running the balance of the 2008 Nationwide season in the No. 40 Fastenal Dodge.”
With the so-called success of JPM, owners have seemed to migrate towards big name open wheeled drivers rather than the more customary practice of looking at lower series, both open wheeled and stock car. Also, the cost of keeping a team racing is undoubtedly going through the roof just as everything else is. I wouldn't be all that surprised to see more teams closing down in the future, or at least cutting back the number of races. 
