Owner shuts down Franchitti's team

CHARLOTTE, N.C.- NASCAR team owner Chip Ganassi shut down Dario Franchitti's race team Tuesday because of a lack of sponsorship, putting the former IndyCar Series champion's future in doubt.

Franchitti, the 2007 Indianapolis 500 winner and series champion, has struggled in his first NASCAR season driving Ganassi's No. 40 Dodge. He ranks 41st in the driver standings, failed to qualify for races in Texas and Sonoma, Calif., and missed five with a broken ankle he suffered in a Nationwide Series crash at Talladega.

The poor performance came as Ganassi has searched all season for a sponsor for his third NASCAR team. Longtime sponsor Coors Light left at the end of last season, and Ganassi was unable to secure funding despite releasing David Stremme for the more marketable Franchitti.

''If I keep going I run the risk of dragging the other two teams down. I don't want to do that,'' Ganassi told the Associated Press. ''There's no money. It makes no sense to be running this out of my pocket. I had to put a stop to it.''

Ganassi's other two Sprint Cups teams are driven by Juan Pablo Montoya, in his second NASCAR season, and Reed Sorenson, who's in the final year of his contract. Montoya is 20th in the standings and Sorenson is 32nd.