Ganassi: Franchitti's schedule not set

The Scot's new boss has said he will keep the same approach that he had last year with Juan Pablo Montoya, not sticking to a fully laid-out schedule, but instead having some flexibility to adjust to the progress his new driver makes with every outing.

"I'd like to give you the layout of the plan, but that plan is week to week," Ganassi said. "We're going to be doing something each and every weekend on the schedule from now until the end of the season whether it's ARCA, Busch.

"If everything goes well in ARCA, it's Busch. If everything goes well in Busch, it's Cup. We have solid steps we want to make."

After this weekend's event at Talladega, Franchitti could either race in the ARCA RE/MAX series at the half-mile Toledo Speedway or decide to try to make his Busch Series debut at Lowe's Motor Speedway in a week's time.

He would probably follow with a similar schedule to the one of Juan Pablo Montoya last year including extensive testing plus racing in the Busch Series at Memphis, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead.

Chip Ganassi racing officials have also said that Franchitti will have his first run in a Nextel Cup car on October 29 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, during an official Car of Tomorrow test session.

While the team has not ruled out the possibility of Franchitti racing in a Nextel Cup event this year, they have said they will concentrate on ARCA and the Busch Series for now.