IndyCar champ Franchitti inks Cup deal with Ganassi

CONCORD, N.C. -- Chip Ganassi Racing on Wednesday announced that 2007 Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti will drive the No. 40 Dodge in the Sprint Cup Series next year.

"The time came for a new challenge," said Franchitti, who joined team owner Chip Ganassi and new teammates Juan Montoya and Reed Sorenson for the announcement. "I thank you, Chip, for the chance to do this."

Franchitti, from Scotland, will become the first European driver to compete full time at NASCAR's highest level. He will make his stock-car debut in Friday's ARCA race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.

Ganassi initiated discussions with Franchitti last year, but with the signing of Montoya for the 2007 season, he had no seat available for Franchitti. That changed when Ganassi opted not to renew the contract of David Stremme, the current driver of the No. 40 Dodge.

Ganassi, who characterized himself as one of the strongest supporters of open-wheel racing, said he turned to the IndyCar Series to hire Franchitti because of his driving ability.

"People always want to talk about 'Am I raiding the open-wheel series?' But that's kind of a swipe at NASCAR," Ganassi said. "I don't care where the drivers come from, but I have to take the best drivers available. If they're good drivers and they're available, I'm going to take them."

Franchitti, 34, was in the final year of his contract with Andretti Green Racing but said he made up his mind to go Cup racing before he won the IndyCar Series championship.

"My mind was made up before that," Franchitti said. "That was just the icing on the cake from a terrific season."

Ganassi said Franchitti will follow logical steps, as Montoya did, before making his Cup debut. The progression includes competition in ARCA and the Busch Series.

"We have solid steps we want to make," Ganassi said. "He has to satisfy everybody in this building. Then he has to satisfy the people in the building down the street [referring to NASCAR officials at the sanctioning body's nearby research and development center]."

Franchitti, who is married to actress Ashley Judd, has impressive open-wheel credentials. He captured the 2007 Indianapolis 500 title, becoming only the second Scottish-born driver to win the race (Jim Clark in 1965), before going on to win the IndyCar Series championship over Ganassi driver Scott Dixon in the final turn of the season.

With more than 180 starts between the CART and IndyCar Series -- including 18 wins, 17 poles, 63 top-five finishes and 95 top-10s -- Franchitti is the winningest driver in U.S. open-wheel history from Great Britain. He also captured the prestigious 12 Hours of Sebring in the LMP2 Class earlier this season in his first ever American Le Mans Series start -- much like Montoya did in February at the Rolex 24 At Daytona in his first sports car start.

"I've always admired Chip's teams having competed against them over the years, and recently paid particular attention to Juan's successful transition this season," Franchitti said. "This is a great opportunity to join one of NASCAR's premier teams."

Franchitti began racing karts in 1984 at age 11, landing his first crown in the Scottish Junior Kart Championship. After securing back-to-back British Junior Kart championships (1985-1986), the Scottish Kart championship (1988), the Formula Vauxhall Junior Championship (1991) and the British Formula Vauxhall Lotus Championship (1993), he competed and won in the British Formula 3 Championship (1994) and the FIA International and German Touring Car Championships (1995-1996) before making the move to CART in 1997.