ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The four-time IndyCar Sequence Champion and 2011 IndyCar St. Pete Grand Prix winner Dario Franchitti is making his first NASCAR begin since 2008 and competing in his first nationally sanctioned race of any sort since 2013.
That‘s the facility of his longtime good friend, seven-time NASCAR Cup Sequence champion and NASCAR Cup Sequence Legacy Motor Membership workforce proprietor Jimmie Johnson, who persuaded Franchitti to return to the driving force‘s seat this weekend to steer the No. 1 Tricon Storage Toyota on the streets of St. Pete.
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“He’s labored exhausting at placing this entire factor collectively from the very first dialog,” Franchitti stated of the NASCAR Corridor of Famer Johnson, who has even dedicated to serving to information Franchitti throughout the race from atop the pit field.
“Jimmie goes to be there giving me recommendation. Even two nights in the past he’s on the cellphone 11:00 at evening and seven:00 the following morning speaking about restarts. He’s totally into it (smiling).
“When you’ve got a seven-time NASCAR champion with you there getting that data, I want he’d been there in 2008 doing that job. It might have helped,” Franchitti joked of his NASCAR foray almost 20 years in the past.
“There’s no substitute for expertise. He could be considering sooner or later he wished he bought within the truck and drove it right here as a substitute of me, relying on how I get on.”
Jimmie Johnson speaks with Dario Franchitti at St. Petersburg.
