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Franchitti won't decide future just yet

Newly-crowned IndyCar Series champion Dario Franchitti has said that he will not think about his plans for 2008 for a couple of weeks

Rumours surfaced last week suggesting that the 34-year-old was going to drive for Chip Ganassi in NASCAR next year, but Franchitti said at the time that he was solely focused on his title showdown with Scott Dixon.

The Scottish driver was pushed on the issue again after his victory at Chicagoland, but he has said that he will not worry about his future for the next couple of weeks.

"I'm not going to talk about next year," he said. "I won't think about the decision to be made, next week or the week after.

"I'm going to enjoy having won this championship. I'm going to have a good time and celebrate winning the IndyCar championship."

Franchitti admitted that he felt he was in need of a rest now that the season is over, after he spent the second half of the season involved in a tense battle for the title with Dixon.

"It's been a long season," he said. "I could do with a bit of a rest right now. I appreciate the challenge Scott and his team gave us this year, it was really tough.

"I have a lot of respect for Scott, and when you beat competition like that, it gives me great satisfaction that I've done a good job, and my team has done a good job."

While Franchitti wouldn't comment on his future, he did admit that in 2007 he had achieved two of the biggest targets he set himself when he started racing in America, by winning a major championship and the Indianapolis 500.

"Those are two of the goals I definitely set for myself a long time ago when I came over here," he said.

"When I came over to the IndyCar Series, the Indy 500 was a big goal. And the championship, to accomplish both of those is massive.

"I'm happier than I thought I'd be. Winning the Indy 500 was massive, but this is different. I think because it's the whole year rolled into one, it means a hell of a lot."

Franchitti's points total of 637 is a new record for an IndyCar season, beating the previous record of 628, set by Dan Wheldon in 2005 over the same number of races.

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