Franchitti drives off with Long Beach win

[April 20, 2009]  LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- One thing Dario Franchitti and team owner Chip Ganassi have in common is that both hate to lose.

It wasn't easy for either one of them to accept the failure last summer when a lack of sponsorship forced Ganassi to shut down Franchitti's Sprint Cup team in the former IndyCar Series champion's abortive move to NASCAR.

"For both of us, that was very tough to swallow because we're used to such success," Franchitti said Sunday after giving Ganassi his fifth victory in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, but first since 1999.

"Chip lost an awful lot of money last year, I lost my drive and a bunch of people lost their jobs. So I don't think it was easy on anybody."

The win in only his second race back in IndyCar, and only his second race driving an open-wheel car for Target Chip Ganassi Racing, was a big moment for both.

As Franchitti was interviewed after getting out of his car, a beaming Ganassi walked up, hugged his newest driver and said, "Sweet."

It was all he had to say.

Franchitti said he felt as if the seaside circuit in downtown Long Beach owed him after finishing second to Ganassi drivers Alex Zanardi (1998) and Juan Pablo Montoya (1999) during his days in the now-defunct CART series.

"Yeah, the Target cars do have a great history here," Franchitti said. "I remember distinctly following that Target (logo) on the rear wing, so it's nice to be on the other end of that today and get the job done. And it feels great to win again in the IndyCar Series."

Franchitti dominated this time, beating runner-up Will Power, the pole-winner, by 3.318 seconds -- half of the final straightaway.

"That was a lot of fun," said Franchitti, who dedicated his ninth IndyCar victory to actress wife Ashley Judd, who celebrated her 41st birthday watching the race from the Target Chip Ganassi Racing pits.

Judd said, "With about 25 laps to go, I got really nervous and I said to myself, `This is the Target Chip Ganassi team. Winning is what they do.' So I was able to calm down a little. I'm just so happy for him."

Helio Castroneves, who got back in his Team Penske car Saturday after being acquitted of federal tax evasion charges, started eighth and finished seventh.

"I'm so happy to be back," said the Brazilian, who even led a handful of laps despite not even driving a race car for the past six months. "I thought I was going to be really tired, but I'm ready for the next race. I was sore this morning. My muscles were hurting. But this is what I love and I'm so glad to be back."

Franchitti said his team gave him the win with a near-perfect pit strategy, starting the race on the softer and faster optional Firestone tires and bringing his No. 10 Dallara in for his first pit stop before any of the other contenders.

"The guys pitted me early," Franchitti said. "The last race, we felt we had the car to win and waited too long to pit. This time, the timing of that first stop, they called it perfectly. After that, we were saving fuel and still making good laps times."

Franchitti left IndyCar after winning both the 2007 Indianapolis 500 and the series championship. After losing his NASCAR ride, Ganassi decided to team Franchitti with 2008 Indy winner and series champion Scott Dixon and the move has paid off this season with a fourth-place finish in the opener at St. Petersburg and a victory.

Power, who filled in for Castroneves during winter testing and in the opening race, had to move to a new, untested car on Saturday when the longtime Team Penske driver returned to the cockpit. But the Australian, whose only remaining scheduled race with Roger Penske's team is next month's Indy 500, did just fine in the new car.

And, despite his uncertain racing future, the Australian said, "I'm with Penske. I'm not really looking anywhere else. I'm very focused on the Indy 500 and, for the team, I want to remain with them the rest of my career."

Power's biggest challenge Sunday was losing most of his radio communication and all of his telemetry readout early in the race because of a wiring problem.

"It was the sort of result that I needed," Power said. "The only thing was I didn't know if I could make it (to the end). I was doing some serious fuel saving out there."

Power said that without the communication problem, he might have been able to challenge Franchitti at the end.

It was because of fuel," he said. "Believe me, Mate, I was saving like you would not believe and driving as hard as I could through the corners to make up for it. ... The car was there. If I were able to go (all out) we would have been on it."

The winner, who led 51 of 85 laps on the 1.97-mile, 11-turn course, including the last 30, disagreed.

"At one point," Franchitti said, "(the team) came on the radio and said, `What is the car doing? What changes do you want?' I said, `I'm not pushing the car hard enough to know what the car is going to do on the limit.' That tells the story."

Tony Kanaan, another former IndyCar champion, was third, followed by Danica Patrick, getting her best ever finish on a road or street course, former series champion Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti.

Dixon, who finished 16th at St. Petersburg, continued to struggle, finishing 15th here. He was involved in three separate accidents, bumped E.J. Viso into one of the concrete barriers that line the wall, getting caught up in a chain-reaction collision that damaged several cars and put Justin Wilson out of the race and getting hit from behind by St. Petersburg winner Ryan Briscoe during a caution period.

"It was just a bad day," Dixon said. "I love the road courses but we've just had a rough time. It's just fantastic that Dario had a great finish for the team. We're looking forward to Kansas (next Sunday)."

[Associated Press; By MIKE HARRIS]

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