JOLIET, ILL. — Dario Franchitti can hardly wait to get back in an IndyCar.
The 2007 Indianapolis 500 winner and IndyCar Series champion was at Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday, less than a week after the announcement that he will return to open-wheel racing in 2009 as part of Chip Ganassi Racing.
The Scot left IndyCar at the end of last season to make the jump to NASCAR with Ganassi. But Franchitti was struggling to find his way in July when Ganassi pulled the plug on his unsponsored No. 40 Dodge, leaving Franchitti without a Sprint Cup ride and unsure of his racing future.
Even then, the apologetic Ganassi said there would always be a ride for Franchitti somewhere on his one of his teams. Most people thought that meant the Grand-Am sports car team, but Ganassi surprised everyone last week when he named Franchitti to replace Dan Wheldon as teammate to Scott Dixon in the IndyCar Series.
“The trepidation is you want to make sure you can still do the job,” Franchitti said. “You believe you can do it, but until you can see it, there’s always that nagging doubt. I want to be as good or better than when I left.”
Although he won’t be racing for points until the opener next year at St. Petersburg, Franchitti said there is a possibility he will drive for Ganassi in the non-points event at Australia in October.
“I think there’s a definite possibility of that,” Franchitti said. “I think Dan’s going to do the race with Panther (Racing), so I don’t see any roadblock to doing that. I think if I could get a couple days testing in first just to get used to things again, that would definitely be helpful.”
Franchitti, who drove in 10 Cup races and 14 second-tier Nationwide events this season, said he has no regrets about the move to NASCAR.
“It was all about the challenge to do that,” he said. “And, my God, was it a challenge.
“If I had to do it again, I’d probably try and get a bit more testing and a bit more buildup before getting in there. It was one of those deals that I felt this year that everything that could go wrong did go wrong.
“Looking back, I wouldn’t change anything,” Franchitti added. “I’d make the same choice again. I got to experience something completely different and maybe will do so again in the future. Who knows? But this is definitely a positive way to go into next year.”
Franchitti said Ganassi didn’t make the offer for him to move to his IndyCar team until last weekend at Detroit’s Belle Isle.
“We tossed the idea around for a while, but it was really over the Detroit weekend,” Franchitti noted. “Chip said, ‘You want to do this, or what?’ When we decided that, the deal was done in maybe half an hour.”
PENALTY PHASE: If not for a blocking penalty called against him during last week’s race at Detroit, Helio Castroneves could well be 10 points closer to series leader Scott Dixon going into Sunday’s PEAK Indy 300.
Instead, Castroneves — still steamed over being told by IndyCar vice president of competition Brian Barnhart to move over and give up the lead to eventual race winner Justin Wilson — wound up second and trails Dixon by 30 points.
All Dixon has to do to wrap up the title on Sunday is finish eighth or better, no matter what Castroneves does.
There wasn’t any doubt that Castroneves did throw a big block at Wilson late in last Sunday’s race, moving first to one side of the track then the other in an effort to keep the hard-charging runner-up behind.
His biggest gripe after the race was that there was no warning issued before the penalty was called.
“If you’re on lap 25 at Chicago and you move over a car-width and it prevents the car behind you from going past, it most likely will be a warning,” Barnhart said. “At that point, you’ve still got 175 laps of racing at a track that is very conducive to passing, (and) you’ve got three pit stops. The guy behind you is likely going to get another run on you.
“Compare that to Detroit, the concrete canyon there, where passing opportunities are extremely rare. We’re done with all our pit stops. We’re in the last 15 minutes of the race, or last 15 laps, and a guy gets a fabulous run on (Castroneves). (Wilson) may not get that run again.”
Barnhart said officials have to look at the big picture.
“Its severity, its effect on safety, its effect on competition and the nature of that track and the stage that was that race,” he said. “It’s a pretty easy call.”
Barnhart and Castroneves spoke for the first time since the penalty in a phone call on Thursday.
“I think he understood where I’m coming from, but he still doesn’t see it that way, and I wouldn’t expect him to,” Barnhart said. “These guys are one of the most competitive group of professional athletes you’ve ever seen.”
Castroneves tried to be philosophical after arriving at the track Friday.
“It’s just one of those things,” he said, shrugging. “Nothing is going to turn back now. But, yes, it was a lot of things that I would have done different. But now we’re here, Chicago, and ready to have this great opportunity to hopefully bring this championship home.”
GROWING TEAM: HVM Racing, one of the teams that made the move this year from the defunct Champ Car World Series to IndyCar, is in growth mode.
Team owner Keith Wiggins said Saturday that team will field a two-car entry next season in the second-tier Firestone Indy Lights series.
Wiggins recently acquired the assets of Michael Crawford Motorsports, with Crawford accepting an offer to remain with the team as its general manager. Crawford served as general manager for Sam Schmidt Motorsports before taking ownership of his own team in 2006.
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