Not-so-fast start: Indy’s Franchitti struggling with switch to NASCAR

The 38-year-old Scotsman said he knew it was going to be this difficult.

HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — Dario Franchitti may have bolstered his cred with the good ol’ boys by getting penalized for rough driving. He’s still got a long way to go before he can even think about winning a stock car race.

The Indianapolis 500 winner quickly discovered just how much of a learning curve he faces in the leap from high-tech, open-wheel machines to these bulky, hard-to-handle cars with fenders and windshields.

Already this month, Franchitti finished far back in three different forms of racing that served as a warm-up for a full-time Cup ride in 2008. He placed 17th in an ARCA race at Talladega, 33rd in trucks at Martinsville and 32nd in a Busch Series event at Memphis this past weekend.

It’s a different world for the 38-year-old Scotsman, who captured a series championship and a win in the biggest race of all on the IndyCar circuit this season.

“I certainly don’t expect it to be easy,” Franchitti said Tuesday, taking a break from testing at Atlanta Motor Speedway and trying to make himself heard over the roar of the husky stock-car engines. “I’m under no illusions about how difficult this challenge is going to be. That’s why I wanted to do it.”

He’s shown the same knack for speed that he had in Indy cars, qualifying third for his Busch Series debut. But after he rammed Brandon Miller during the race, NASCAR officials held up Franchitti for a lap as a penalty for aggressive driving. He had another brush, as well, before hobbling across the finish line, three laps behind winner David Reutimann.

“I was pleasantly surprised with the pace we showed in Memphis,” Franchitti insisted. “But we had the brake problem. I’m not going to say that we ran out of brakes, but we had a braking issue that caused me to hit the 77. Other than that, we would have had a really good finish that day.”

Franchitti was lured from Indy cars by Chip Ganassi, who was encouraged by the progress Montoya showed in his rookie season. The Colombian earned his first win on the road course at Sonoma and was runner-up in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis.

Now, he’ll be teammates with Franchitti, who undoubtedly will spend plenty of time in Montoya’s hauler, picking his brain for any tidbits that might ease the transition.

“It’s very helpful to have him on the team when I’ll be going through the same thing,” Franchitti said. “He’s just done a terrific job this year. Now, having driven the car, I realize what an impressive job he’s done.”