NASCAR odds: Franchitti gets Nationwide ride

After losing his ride in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, Dario Franchitti

Franchitti, who is part of the field at +1000 at WagerWeb.com, will pilot the No. 40 Dodge for Chip Ganassi Racing. Ganassi shuttered Franchitti's Sprint Cup Series team last week because of a lack of funding, leaving the 2007 IndyCar Series champion's future in doubt.

But Ganassi has sponsorship for his Nationwide car, and is giving Franchitti the option to drive that until they figure out a long-term plan. Bryan Clauson drove the car last weekend at Daytona International Speedway, winning his first career pole.

This will be Franchitti’s 11th start of the year and the 15th of his career in the second-level series. His return is not full-time yet, as the Scot’s plans for the rest of the season will probably be disclosed next week after he and Ganassi meet to discuss their options.

But Franchitti made it clear what he wants.

"I want to be successful in NASCAR and I certainly don't want it to end like this," he said. "I made a big commitment coming over here [from IndyCar] and I'd like to get in a [situation] to be successful. When I made the decision to come here I wasn't going to do the IndyCar thing anymore, so this isn't a case of missing out on what could have been. That wasn't a direction I wanted to go. Never say never, but it's unlikely I'll go back."

Franchitti's race at Chicago on Friday will be his first in stock cars at the 1.5-mile oval. He does have three IndyCar starts there, including wrapping up the 2007 IndyCar Championship there by starting from the pole and winning the season finale.Franchitti was disappointed in Ganassi’s decision to shut down his Sprint Cup ride, saying his broken ankle suffered at Talladega and the five missed races after that certainly didn’t help matters.

"The injury didn't help, and I know I still have a lot to learn, but we were moving in the right direction,” Franchitti said. “There were some very difficult days and there were also days where we felt we were making progress, and those days were fun. I'd love to start again with the level of experience I have in NASCAR now and that is why I want to continue and show what I can do. I got the feeling whatever could go wrong did go wrong, but I think we were turning things round."

Bet on NASCAR at WagerWeb.com will be back behind the wheel Friday when he races in the Nationwide Series Dollar General 300 at Chicagoland Speedway.