Franchitti loses his Sprint Cup Series car

Dario Franchitti’s rookie year in NASCAR’s top-level series abruptly ended Tuesday when his team shut down the driver’s No. 40 Dodge operation because of a lack of sponsorship.

Franchitti, 35, won the Indianapolis 500 last year and then switched to stock-car racing this season with the team of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. He was one of several open-wheel drivers who have switched to NASCAR in the last two years.

But as Franchitti tried to adapt to NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, the Scottish driver of Italian descent broke his ankle in an April crash and missed several races.

At the same time, Ganassi struggled to find a permanent primary sponsor for the No. 40 car to replace the beer brand Coors Light, which quit after last season. The cost of fielding a NASCAR Cup team can hit $10 million or more a year.

“In this tough business environment, continuing to run the car without proper funding has become increasingly difficult,” Ganassi said. “This is a difficult decision for Felix and I that did not come without its share of anguish.”

Franchitti ran in only 10 of the series’ 17 races so far this year and was 41st in driver points. The team said Franchitti might continue driving this year in NASCAR’s second-tier Nationwide Series.

Ganassi has enjoyed huge success in open-wheel racing -- his driver Scott Dixon won this year’s Indy 500 -- but his NASCAR team has struggled. Juan Pablo Montoya, who likewise was an open-wheel star before migrating to NASCAR, is 20th in points and Reed Sorenson is 31st.

Separately, Dale Earnhardt Inc. plans to use driver Aric Almirola full time next year in its No. 8 Chevrolet. Almirola, 24, has split the ride this year with veteran Mark Martin, who is expected to replace Casey Mears in Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 Chevy in 2009.

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james.peltz@latimes.com