Bathgate’s Dario Franchitti will strap himself into his Nascar for the first time this week after breaking his left ankle in a 180mph crash at Talladega last month. The 34-year-old Scot is hopeful of making his Sprint Cup Series return at Dover next weekend.
“I’m scheduled to drive the car on Tuesday and Wednesday at Pocono Raceway,” Franchitti, who will wear a carbonfibre brace on his ankle when he climbs into his Chip Ganassi Dodge, explained. “I’ve got some movement in my ankle now, so it should be OK.
“We’ll do the test and then see how it goes from there. We’ll make a decision after that for the following week in Dover. The decision will be mainly mine. I have to find out what I can and can’t handle in the car.
“I need to find out whether I can push the brake pedal as hard as I need to push it. I’ll need to find out whether I can even handle sitting in the car for the length of a Cup race or even a Nationwide race for that matter.
“We’ll try that out on Tuesday and I’ll get an idea from there. I’ll talk to Chip and talk to the guys in the team and then we’ll make a decision.”
And Franchitti, who dramatically won the Indianapolis 500 last year, has tipped his former Andretti Green team-mate Tony Kanaan to win Sunday’s 2008 Indy500.
“I definitely think Tony deserves to win,” the scot continued. “He led more laps than anybody else last year, 83, and it was really only the rain which took the win away from him. I’d love Tony to win.
“He’s been so good for so many years so I would really like to see him win it. Of course, I’d also like to see the Ganassi cars win because I’d love to see Chip win again. He loves that race and puts so much effort in it.”
JM