Franchitti considering ALMS

Speaking at Watkins Glen, the Scot confirmed he is scheduled to run in seven races in NASCAR's second-tier series driving the No. 40 Fastenal Dodge, but said he has the possibility to pursue other options in other series if he wants to.

"Right now is seven Nationwide races, but there's still the chance for me to do other stuff in other series as well," Franchitti said. "Whether it's Cup, whether it's sports cars, I've got the option to do that.

"But right now the core of that is probably going to be seven races in Nationwide."

The Ganassi driver says that besides the sponsorship issues that led to the closure of his Sprint Cup team this year, the squad's performance hasn't been good either for his two teammates.

He believes that the closure of his team has not yet shown the expected positive effect on the other two cars as Chip Ganassi claimed he didn't want to drag down the No. 41 and 42 teams while keeping the No. 40 car running.

"I think it was all about business sponsorship dollars," said Franchitti. "I think right now none of the cars on the Cup side are running well, even since the 40 car closed down the results haven't improved. But I know for a fact that we've been working really hard back in Concord to improve things."

Franchitti says he would like to remain in the Sprint Cup series for a full second but he wants to ponder other options he already has, including American Le Mans, where he has raced in the past for Andretti Green Racing. His brother Marino driver for Dyson Racing in the series.

"I want to stay in Cup but right now I've got to see what my options are, you know, look at all different things," said Franchitti. "I really enjoyed my time in sportscars last year in the ALMS, had a really good time doing that, so that's another option for sure."

The 35-year-old says he already has spoken to a number of people in other series but not anyone from the IndyCar series. Although he would like to reach a decision on his future soon he doesn't have a planned time frame on which to make up his mind.

"I haven't talked to anybody in the IndyCar series yet, but I've talked to a lot of other places though," he said. "The phone has been ringing, which has been good but there's a lot of options. I've got to look at all the options before I make a decision."

Franchitti spent the last few weeks in Scotland and in between his holiday trips he tested his Nationwide series car at Road Atlanta in preparation for this weekend's race at Watkins Glen.