Bathgate’s Dario Franchitti scored his second-best result in the Nascar Nationwide Series when he powered his Ganassi Dodge to 11th at the Texas Motor Speedway.
But the 34-year-old Scot was frustrated not to qualify for the Sprint Cup race on the same 1.5-mile oval, blaming a lack of front-end grip for his lack of performance.
“The Sprint Cup car was just incredibly tight,” Franchitti explained yesterday (Sun).
“We expected the track to free up in qualifying and it tightened up and we couldn’t carry the momentum because of the tightness.”
The Scot is outside the top 35 in owner points and now needs to qualify for races on speed, a challenge he faces when he heads to Phoenix this weekend.
Franchitti has experience of the circuit in a Nascar having completed a test at the one-mile track last month . He also raced there in the Nationwide Series last year, crashing out with four laps to go when he was running 24th.
JM