Dario Franchitti: “This Is Not a Comeback”
Paul Hurley/Penske Entertainment
By Dennis Krause
Four-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti is coming out of retirement to race in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series this weekend as part of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
The prospect of competing professionally again for the first time since 2013 has the 52-year-old Scotsman feeling excited.
“Felt a bit different coming to the track this morning from my job at Ganassi (as driver coach) when all I have to do is tell these guys what they're doing wrong. Now I have to do it right myself.
“It's exciting,” Franchitti noted. “It's a very different feeling. It's nice to experience it again. It's nice to sort of be sitting there last night checking out all the data, looking at everything, preparing for the day. Getting here this morning, all that stuff, I was a bit late with the traffic.
“Yeah, it will be very interesting to see how today goes. I have no real expectations.”
Franchitti will be driving a Toyota for TRICON Garage, the same truck seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson will pilot later this year at San Diego. In fact, Johnson will be in Franchitti’s crew chief and will be in his ear during Saturday’s race.
“Jimmie is more excited about this than anybody. He is the person I think that's put it all together, him and the team at Legacy (Motorsports). Being the boss there, he's got people,” Franchitti joked.
“He's worked hard at putting this whole thing together from the very first conversation. Jimmie is going to be there giving me advice. Even two nights ago he's on the phone 11:00 at night and 7:00 the next morning talking about restarts. He's fully into it.
“When you have a seven-time NASCAR champion with you there getting that information, I wish he'd been there in 2008 doing that job. It would have helped.
“There's no substitute for experience. He might be thinking at some point he wished he got in the truck and drove it here instead of me, depending on how I get on.
“He's going to drive the truck in San Diego, as well. Yeah, he'll have the headset on. I'll be very thankful for his input during the race.”
Franchitti’s itch to race competitively again, proves that for most racers, the fire and intensity really never goes away.
“Yeah, I was talking with Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. about it the other day. Scott (Dixon) and I talk about it all the time. The amount of times Scott gets asked the question, When are you going to retire? You have a guy that's still winning races. He's as good as anybody, an elite level in INDYCAR still. One day he will retire and he'll want to come and play old cars with me again.
“You know, we don't have a seniors tour. We don't have that kind of thing. We don't have that outlet going and play. This is a chance to do that.
“When I retired,” Franchitti continued, “I was quite happy being retired for a good amount of time. I was driving cars and demonstrations and stuff like that. Thought I'd like to see what it felt like again to do it. That's just sort of escalated from there, I'd say.
“I've been fortunate over the last seven years I guess to drive some really exceptional cars at some fun circuits. This is just the next extension of that.
“This is not a comeback. This is just getting to experience something fun, being fortunate enough to have great friends that help me to do that.”
Mike Young/Penske Entertainment
Forced to retire from full-time INDYCAR racing in November of 2013 after sustaining a severe concussion, fractured spine and broken right ankle in a crash at Houston, Franchitti says it was easy being retired - at first.
“I was quite happy. To start with, I was quite happy. I love coming to the circuit and helping the Ganassi guys try to find that extra edge.
“But as time went on, you just want to... I wanted to experience that again. I love driving racing cars, racing vehicles. That was something I sort of discovered a little while after my retirement.
“When I was racing in INDYCAR, the intensity of the whole thing, it's a different kind of enjoyment than the stuff I get to do now.”
At the time he retired, doctors told him that further racing posed too great a risk to his long-time well being. Yet here he is, getting behind the wheel to race again.
“I've been racing since 2019,” Franchitti explained. “That was a conversation with the doctors back then, insurance companies, those type of things, to have that discussion with them, what they felt.
“Yeah, time's a great healer on that. That's the best way to put it. Everything's looking really good, right? I do regular scans and all that. Things are looking a lot better than they did even six, seven years ago.
“Otherwise I wouldn't do it, it's as simple as that.”
If Franchitti has any nerves about racing again, he’s not showing it.
“Not yet. I feel quite calm right now,” Franchitti said. “I'm sure just before I get in the truck before practice and qualifying, I'm sure the nerves will go up a bit.
“I've always felt that part of my job is to control those emotions. Especially somewhere like Indy, when you used to have those nerves, how do you calm this all down. I think we all go through that.
“We all have that. I'll just do what I would normally do: chill out, try and focus, then ultimately try and do a good job.”
After all, this is not a comeback.
Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.