INDYCAR Champ Dario Franchitti: Truck Start at St. Pete Not a Comeback

Dario Franchitti doesn’t look to make a comeback in racing or in NASCAR. The 52-year-old enjoys a fine life as a driver coach at Chip Ganassi Racing. But the four-time INDYCAR champion still loves to get behind the wheel. And the opportunity to get in a NASCAR truck for the race Saturday at St. Petersburg (Noon ET on FOX) intrigued him. So as he and Jimmie Johnson enjoyed a little wine, he mentioned how he wanted to do it. “One thing with Jimmie, don’t make too many suggestions because he will act on them,” Franchitti told me. “He doesn’t mess around.” Johnson knows Franchitti was a driver who didn’t mess around on the track — Franchitti won the Indianapolis 500 three times — and wanted to find his good friend a ride. “Jimmie gets involved, and things move very, very quickly,” Franchitti said. “All of a sudden, I’m driving the Tricon truck and Dollar Tree are on as a sponsor. It was just about the opportunity to race at St Pete and the truck is the vehicle to allow me to do that.” The 1.8-mile, 14-turn course has been a home to INDYCAR races for 21 years now, but this will be the first street course ever for the trucks. Franchitti, who won the INDYCAR race at St. Pete in 2011, hasn’t raced at St. Pete since 2013, the year when he had an INDYCAR career-ending accident when he suffered a concussion at Houston. He has raced in a variety of historic and sports-car events since 2019. “Time is a great healer,” Franchitti said. “And back in 2019 I had a conversation with the doctors and the stakeholders involved in my retirement, and I was allowed to then go racing again. “So this is just an extension of that, but it’s definitely not a comeback.” Franchitti has some NASCAR experience, racing a mix of Cup and O’Reilly (previously Xfinity) events in 2007-08 with 29 starts across the national series as he focused on a NASCAR career after winning the 2007 INDYCAR title. Having suffered a broken leg in a crash at Talladega and with funding not plentiful, his NASCAR career ended somewhat abruptly in less than a season. After taking 2008 to focus on NASCAR, he returned to INDYCAR in 2009 and won three consecutive titles.”The Cup stuff, I found very difficult,” Franchitti said. “It’s nothing about closure. It’s just about enjoyment. It’s just about having an opportunity.” It’s likely Franchitti won’t be the only one enjoying it. Johnson will be on the pit box. The Ganassi engineers and drivers will be watching. “They’ve all been saying, ‘We’ll be watching very closely,’” Franchitti said. “So, unfortunately, when I maybe make a mistake or it’s not going quite as well, I’m sure they’ll be sure to tell me what I’m doing wrong.” Franchitti did get a test day in a truck earlier this month at Sebring. NASCAR allows for refresher tests for someone who hasn’t competed in the series in a long time and acclimation tests for an established driver from another series. “I was surprised at how well the truck drove, actually,” Franchitti said. “I know the Tricon stuff is very good, They won the championship last year, a lot of road courses. But I really enjoyed the way it felt. It responded to changes. “I’ve driven a lot of different cars since [2019], I’ve driven more cars and different types of cars than I drove when I was racing INDYCAR full-time, so maybe I’m a bit more adaptable than I was back then.” So what are his goals? How would he define success? “I approach these things now, I know if I do a good job, if I feel I’m driving well, then that’s it,” Franchitti said. “It’s about pushing myself and maybe doing a bit better than I thought I might. “If I have a great result, it’s not going to change my life on Monday morning. I would like to have a great result, trust me. But there’s no long-term plan or any of that stuff. It’s really about getting out there, trying to be competitive. Enjoyment comes from that, and from the act of working with that whole Tricon team to push it forward.” Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.