SONOMA, Calif. — In the, ‘haven’t we been here before?’ category Dario Franchitti admitted he is open to new ventures, which could include the possibility of NASCAR with team owner Richard Childress.
During the NASCAR race last weekend at Michigan Int’l Speedway, Childress admitted that he’s friends with this year’s Indianapolis 500 winner and is intrigued to see what he could do in a stock car.
This has been a trend lately where such IndyCar drivers as Sam Hornish, Jr., Dan Wheldon and others have been asked about their interest in jumping series. Only Hornish appears to be a strong possibility to do that at the end of this season, though.
“At some point, I’d like to drive one of the cars to see what it is like,” Franchitti said after winning the pole at Infineon last Saturday. “Right now, I’m looking around. I’m looking at a lot of different options at the end of the season, including staying here, doing sports cars, and the NASCAR thing is interesting to me as well.
“I think anybody who loves racing would be a fool not to look at the NASCAR thing.”
Franchitti said it’s an unknown that he’d like to experience because he’s driving sports cars and is one of IndyCar racing’s best, leading the title race by eight points over Scott Dixon with three races left in the season.
“I have to make a decision reasonably soon which direction I’m going,” said Franchitti, who works on a year-to-year contract with Andretti Green Racing. “What intrigues me is the racing side of things and the challenge of it. It would be something new, something unknown and different.
“I’ve done this for a long time. I’ve really enjoyed doing this. I like the sports cars as well.”
Franchitti won’t allow himself to think about next year during race weekends because he wants to win the title but he admitted that winning the Indianapolis 500 allows him to look at other things.
“I said to the bosses last year, I want to win Indy,” Franchitti said. “I want to win a championship and I want to win Indy. That has definitely relaxed me as a driver to have won that race.”
When asked about Franchitti’s comments, team owner Michael Andretti laughed out loud and said, “Can you see Dario do 38 races in a season? He has a hard enough time with our 17-race schedule. Can you see him doing all of those personal appearances?
“I can’t.”
Andretti said he has operated on a one-year contract status with Franchitti since he joined the team in 2003 and is confident Franchitti will be back next year.

• Team owner Roger Penske confirmed over the weekend that Sam Hornish, Jr.’s first NASCAR Nextel Cup race will be at New Hampshire Int’l Speedway on Sept. 16. That’s the first race in the “Chase for the Championship,” but it will also provide Hornish with his first opportunity to qualify and race the Cup car after competing in selected Busch and ARCA races this season.
 
• Danica Patrick was running fifth in the race when she made her final pit stop on lap 63. She stalled her car exiting the pits and dropped to sixth in the final standings.
“We had a pretty fast car, but races like this are all about track position,” Patrick said. “We lost so much time in the pits, and there is just no need for that. It just seemed like there was something on every pit stop. You can’t win races when you have problems on every stop.
“There are things we all need to improve on when it come to our pit stops, but the stall — I barely got it going the second time, so that is something that needs to be looked into on the car.”

• Franchitti didn’t need the 10-minute “Saturday Six” qualifying format to win the pole; he was fast enough with single-lap qualifications to retain the top starting position with a lap at 107.951 miles per hour around the 2.26-mile, 12-turn road course.
 
• Helio Castroneves of Team Penske was parked for the first 25 minutes of Friday’s practice session after series officials penalized him for an on-track incident with Tony Kanaan during the Aug. 11 race at Kentucky Speedway.
Series officials believe Castroneves drove Kanaan up the track and near the wall during the race.
The penalty didn’t seem to matter because Castroneves was the fastest driver in Friday’s combined practice session with a lap at 108.193 miles per hour.
He finished second in the race.
 “My car was really good towards the end,” Castroneves said. “In the middle of the race, when Scott Dixon and I were leaving the pits, he was able to find a little bit of my track and we touched wheels. I was like, ‘Hey, I have nothing to lose buddy.’ He was racing hard and forcing it.
“I was like, ‘You know what? I’m going for it if I have an opportunity.’ I would not put a stupid move on him. That’s not what I want to do. I tried everything I could, but he did a good job. I guess that was payback from St. Pete for him.”