Ganassi (l) Parks Franchitti's Unsponsored Ride

In one of the most dramatic signs of the impact of the economy and the shallow pool of sponsors willing to spend on a product that was not delivering, Chip Ganassi Racing makes the surprising midseason move of shutting down Dario Franchitti’s unsponsored No. 40 Sprint Cup Dodge. Franchitti’s arrival was heavily hyped as another signal that a former Indianapolis 500 champion could build a bridge to a new set of race faces and sponsors and grow NASCAR’s base internationally. But even amid that hope, Ganassi could not sign a full-time sponsor for the Cup car. Ganassi: "If I keep going I run the risk of dragging the other two teams down. I don't want to do that. There's no money. It makes no sense to be running this out of my pocket. I had to put a stop to it."

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