Dario Franchitti, the four-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion who has also won three times at the series’ biggest show, the Indianapolis 500, gave up his cherished seat with Chip Ganassi Racing after a thundering accident in Houston almost 13 years ago. He was told by the series traveling physicians that the next one – if he survived it – would not be an easy recovery, if he was able to recover at all.
With those words, the great Scot retired from the driver’s seat in professional motorsports, electing to assist his team, Chip Ganassi Racing, as a driver coach. He has dabbled in vintage racing with some of the most revered race cars of the past since 2019, keeping his hand in, and owns a pile of very racy cars that he exercises on a regular basis. Franchitti has also been an analyst with Formula E’s broadcast team.
Now, it’s back to racing for Dario Franchitti, with a roof over his head. He’s set to return to NASCAR, where he drove with Ganassi’s team most recently in 2008. He’s partnering with TRICON Garage during INDYCAR’s kickoff weekend in St. Petersburg, Fla., driving in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. TRICON Garage fields five full-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series entries as the flagship truck series partner for Toyota Racing Development (TRD).
In partnership with TRICON, former Ganassi teammate Jimmie Johnson and LEGACY MOTOR CLUB (LEGACY MC), look for Franchitti in the No. 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, with primary backing from Dollar Tree. This is Franchitti’s first NASCAR race in 17 years and his first professional outing in 13 seasons. Dollar Tree, the value retailer that operates more than 9,000 stores in the continental United States, has been a major supporter of LEGACY MC.
Of course, Dario Franchitti knows the 1.8-mile, 14-corner street/airport course at St Petersburg well, having dominantly won on the track in 2011, leading 94 of 100 laps, making this return to competition complementary. “The thought of racing a NASCAR truck on a street circuit is really intriguing to me,” the Scotsman noted. “The different surfaces, the fact that part of it is on an airport, then you go into the streets, the different bumps – all those things you’ve got to try and master… this was just the chance to race on a circuit that I love, and a chance to do something fun!”
Franchitti asserts that it was a conversation with Jimmie Johnson that brings him back to NASCAR and St Petersburg. “It was the whole team that he has there [at LEGACY MC] that made it all happen,” Franchitti said. “His relationship with Toyota, Dollar Tree coming on as sponsor – it’s all been through Jimmie and the team at LEGACY MC. If it goes well, great. If it doesn’t go well, I am going to be blaming Jimmie.”
During their conversation in Europe last year, Franchitti told Johnson that he thought it would be fun to be part of the first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race on this circuit he knows so well. Of course, “The chances of me getting back into an Indy car are zero to none,” Franchitti said. But he still wanted to race on the St Pete track, loving its challenges. “The thought of racing a NASCAR truck on a street circuit is really intriguing to me. My experience of the circuit will be very helpful, but my lack of experience with the truck, I think, will probably even things out quite a bit.”
Johnson and Franchitti have known one another for more than 20 years, having met during the Scot’s racing assignments in the Rolex 24 at Daytona with Ganassi’s team. They had been talking about racing together, “So when he approached me about St. Petersburg, I knew I had to get to work,” said Johnson, a co-owner of LEGACY MC.
“I called him back a day later, with an incredible opportunity to join a championship-winning team with Toyota and the great people at TRICON. It’s been a lot of fun getting him integrated into the team and spending more time together, going through the process of getting him back to racing. I’m so excited it all came together and thankful that Dollar Tree is going to support us. I am looking forward too sitting on the pit box alongside the team and sharing this experience with Dario.”
The debut NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race on the streets of St Petersburg is scheduled to take place on Saturday, February 28 at 12PM ET Broadcast coverage will be on FOX with radio coverage of the event on SiriusXM and the NASCAR Racing Network.
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