DARIO FRANCHITTI

Driver - No. 40 Dodge Avenger in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates

Driver Bio

Personal

Born and raised in Scotland, but is of Italian descent. Married to wife Ashley. Has a younger brother, Marino, who is also a racecar driver. Collects Ferraris. A licensed helicopter pilot; he flies a Eurocopter AS350 B3. Enjoys working out, reading and video games…Counts “Colin McRae Rally” among his favorites. Admires fellow Scotsman Sean Connery and is an avid fan of James Bond movies.

Career Racing Highlights

• Signed with Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates to drive #40 Dodge Avenger in 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
• Won the 2007 IndyCar Series Driver Championship
• Captured the 91st Indianapolis 500 becoming only the second Scottish born driver to win it since Jim Clark in 1965
• Has 18 victories and 17 pole positions in his U.S. open-wheel career; is the winningest British driver in U.S. open-wheel history
• Has accumulated 63 top-five and 95 top-10 results in his open-wheel career
• Finished 8th in the 2006 IndyCar Series driver's championship
• Finished 4th in the 2005 IndyCar Series driver's championship
• Won at California Speedway from the pole in the final race of 2005
• Scored his third career IRL win at Nashville in 2005
• Earned two wins and one pole position in the 2004 IRL Season
• Posted 10 wins and 11 pole positions in CART and finished runner-up in the 1999 driver's championship
• Finished among the top seven in CART in four of his six seasons

2008 - Driver of the #40 Dodge Avenger in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with Chip Ganassi Racing with Felilx Sabates

2007 - Driver of the #27 Canadian Club car for Andretti Green Racing in the Indy Racing League

• Captured the IndyCar Series Drivers Championship
• Won the 91st Running of the Indianapolis 500; becoming only the second Scottish born driver to win it since Jim Clark in 1965
• Captured 16th career race win at Iowa Speedway to surpass Alex Zanardi as Honda's all-time winningest driver
• Posted his 17th career race win at Richmond and led the most laps in an IndyCar Series race
• Has recorded 12 Top-5 finishes in 15 races this season and is the only IndyCar driver to finish in the Top-7 in every race
• Captured the 12 Hours of Sebring in the LMP2 Class with Bryan Herta and Tony Kanaan in AGR's first ALMS start

2006 - Driver of the #27 Klein Tools/Canadian Club car for Andretti Green Racing in the Indy Racing League

• Recorded 3 Top-5 and 6 Top 10 finishes in 14 races
• Placed 2nd at Sonoma and 3rd at Richmond
• Captured 14th career pole position at St. Petersburg

2005 - Driver of the #27 ArcaEx car for Andretti Green Racing in the Indy Racing League

• Captured his third career IRL win at Nashville; his hometown racetrack
• Posted his second career IRL pole position at Fontana
• Recorded his fourth career IRL win at the season finale in Fontana
• Finished season ranked #4 in the IRL Driver's Championship
• Posted 8 Top-5 finishes and 13 Top-10 finishes in 17 races.

2004 - Driver of the #27 ArcaEx car for Andretti Green Racing in the Indy Racing League

• Finished the 2004 season ranked #6 in the IRL Points Championship
• Captured his first career IRL race wins at Milwaukee and Pikes Peak; earned four podium finishes
• Posted his first career IRL pole position at Texas.
• Recorded 8 Top-10 finishes and 5 Top-5 finishes in 16 races this season; led a total of 349 laps. 
• Qualified on front row for the Indy 500 (third); finished 14th

2003 - IndyCar driver for Andretti Green Racing (#27 Archipelago/Motorola)

• Finished 7^th in his inaugural IndyCar race at Homestead
• Sidelined for most of the 2003 season due to an off-track motorcycle accident

2002 - ChampCar driver for Team KOOL Green

• Captured 3 race wins (Montreal, Vancouver, Rockingham)
• Posted 8 Top Five finishes / 4^th in season ending standings

2001 - ChampCar driver for Team KOOL Green

• Recorded 7^th career race win in Cleveland
• Earned seven podium appearances, finished 7^th in standings
• Recipient of the Greg Moore Legacy Award

2000 - ChampCar driver for Team KOOL Green

• Posted 5 Top Five finishes / 2 poles / 4 podium appearances

1999 - ChampCar driver for Team KOOL Green

• Captured 3 race wins (Toronto, Detroit, Australia)

• 11 podium appearances, 7 poles and led 10 of the 20 races

- Finished 2^nd in CART Championship standings behind J. Montoya

UpClose with Dario Franchitti

Top Three Race Tracks
      1. Mugello International Racetrack (Mugello, Italy)
      2. Road America (Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin)
      3. Suzuka International Racetrack (Suzuka, Japan)

Top Three World Cities
      1. Edinburgh, Scotland 
      2. Glasgow, Scotland
      3. San Francisco, California

Top Three Exotic Cars
      1. Ferrari 250 GTO
      2. Ferrari Enzo
      3. Ferrari F40

Top Three Hobbies
      1. Cycling
      2. Flying
      3. Following Glasgow Celtic Football

Top Three Musicians/Bands
      1. Elton John 
      2. U2
      3. Wynonna Judd

Most Influential People In His Life
      1. George Franchitti, Father
      2. Marina Franchitti, Mother
      3. Jackie Stewart, Scottish Racing Legend

Date:  May 2, 2008
Race:  Lipton Tea 250
Series:  NASCAR Nationwide Series 
Track:  Richmond Intl. Raceway
Time:  7:00 p.m. Eastern
TV:  ESPN2

NASCAR Nationwide Series Standings

1.)  Clint Bowyer  1427 pts.
2.)  Carl Edwards  1400 pts.
3.)  Kyle Busch  1388 pts.
4.)  David Reutimann  1298 pts.
5.)  Mike Bliss  1282 pts.
19.)  Dario Franchitti  825 pts.
* Top NNS Rookie *