ESPN Sprint Cup

The 2007 Indy 500 winner, the man who won the IndyCar Series championship last year, a racer with international appeal as a debonair Scotsman and a man with a gorgeous movie-star wife.

That guy is looking for a job.

Dario Franchitti seems like a person who has everything a racing sponsor would want. But entering NASCAR with all those assets was not enough for the suits at any major company to say, "Hey, this guy can help us sell our product."

As the season went along and Franchitti struggled, the thought process probably was, "Why should we sponsor this guy?"

Team owner Chip Ganassi's decision to shut down Franchitti's No. 40 Dodge was financial. He couldn't find sponsorship. Was that the only reason?

Felix Sabates, Ganassi's partner on the NASCAR team, listed some other factors during an Interview on XM Satellite Radio Tuesday night.

"Dario had a hard time," Sabates said. "The truth of the matter is that he needs more seat time. I hope he gets in the Nationwide car. He's a very talented driver and if he gets a few more months under his belt maybe we can get a sponsor for next year.

"It cost you 20 to 21, 22 million dollars to run a competitive team. If you run 15 races and you don't have any money coming in you have already lost 10 or 11 million dollars."

Ganassi says he's committed to Franchitti for the long term. If that's true, why not put Franchitti in the No. 41 Dodge and send Reed Sorenson packing?

Why not go with the big-name guy over the driver who hasn't produced in three seasons?

Things aren't always as they appear. Franchitti didn't help himself the past two weeks.

Sorenson's sixth-place showing last weekend at New Hampshire was his first top-10 since a fifth-place effort in the season-opening Daytona 500.

Sorenson hasn't shown much improvement overall, but he's only 22 and has the car ranked 31st, solidly inside the top 35 for a guaranteed starting spot.

Sorenson didn't race the road-course event at Infineon two weeks ago because Ganassi opted to put road-course ringer Scott Pruett in the car. That brought speculation that Sorenson was on his way out.

The Sonoma event was expected to be a highlight for Franchitti because of his extensive road-racing experience, but Franchitti failed to qualify for the race.

His teammates, Juan Pablo Montoya and Pruett, qualified 21st and 27th, respectively. Franchitti's qualifying speed was 46th of the 47 drivers who made an attempt.

Maybe it was just the car. Maybe not.

All three Ganassi cars were quick last weekend at New Hampshire, posting some of the fastest speeds in practice. Franchitti qualified seventh, but finished 38th, four laps down.

So on a rare weekend in which the Ganassi cars clearly had the speed to compete, Franchitti was next-to-last among the cars still running at the end.

It became obvious Franchitti was going to need a lot of seasoning before becoming competitive in a stock car. But Franchitti is 35. How much time does he have?

And where does Franchitti go from here?

He could opt to drive some events for Ganassi in the Nationwide Series, but it's a little late for Franchitti to develop his skills in a feeder league.

Sabates said Ganassi also told Franchitti he would put him in an Indy car, but two horrifying airborne accidents last season helped convince Franchitti, and wife Ashley Judd, to get out of open-wheel racing.

Some fans will quickly point out the irony of the fact that Franchitti walked away from those crashes unscathed, but suffered a broken ankle in his first NASCAR season.

Franchitti might switch full-time to Ganassi's Grand-Am team, but sports-car racing is not exactly center ring compared to winning the Indy 500 and racing in Sprint Cup.

When you break it down, Franchitti's options are limited. He took a chance coming to NASCAR, hoping for big things to cap his career. Now he's hoping his career doesn't end with people believing he made a huge mistake.

Halfway through the 2008 season, the experiment of using open-wheel racers in NASCAR has been a dismal failure. Franchitti is the second open-wheel newbie to find himself without a ride.

Former F1 champ Jacques Villeneuve never even took a green flag in a Cup event this season. After failing to qualify for the season-opening Daytona 500, Bill Davis Racing shut down his sponsorless ride.

You know it's a bad year for the open-wheelers when the "highlight" for some fans was Juan Pablo Montoya's deliberately punting Kyle Busch under caution at New Hampshire.

Open-wheel rookie Patrick Carpentier won the pole at New Hampshire, but finished 31st, two laps down. Three-time IndyCar Series champ Sam Hornish Jr. ranks 33rd in the standings and hasn't posted a top-10 finish.

In their defense, none of the open-wheel drivers have top equipment. Kyle Busch wouldn't win in Dario Franchitti's car. Carl Edwards would struggle in Hornish's car.

Turn it around, and the picture becomes more clear. Franchitti would not win in Busch's car and Hornish wouldn't win in Edwards' car. Taming a stock car is a much tougher transition than any of the open-wheelers imagined.

And for some of them, it didn't bring the sponsorship dollars their NASCAR team owners believed would come with them.

Terry Blount covers motorsports for ESPN.com. He can be reached at terry@blountspeak.com.