AGR releases Franchitti from contract

UPDATE SPEED will interrupt regularly scheduled programming at approximately 10:30am/et Wednesday, October 3rd in order to bring viewers a live press conference from the headquarters of Chip Ganassi Racing in Concord, North Carolina. Programming will resume following the press conference.

10/02/07 Andretti Green Racing announced today it has released Dario Franchitti from his driver agreement [so he can move to NASCAR]. The team's agreement with Franchitti was set to expire later this year.

Chip Ganassi Racing has set a news conference for Wednesday, where it will announce the hiring of the driver of the No. 40 Sprint Cup car for next season. The driver is expected to be 2007 Indy Racing League and Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti.

Franchitti's much-anticipated move to stock cars will begin Friday with an ARCA race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Rumor has it that the 2007 Indy 500 winner and IndyCar Series champion has agreed to a multiyear deal to replace David Stremme in the No. 40 Dodge for NASCAR's Chip Ganassi Racing, according to a person familiar with the negotiations who requested anonymity because the deal had yet to be announced.

[Editor's Note: Recall weeks ago our rumor went to 'fact' on Franchitti moving to Ganassi's NASCAR team for next year, so the announcement Wednesday will be old news for AutoRacing1.com subscribers.]