Judd’s husband racing at Road Atlanta

If there’s anything to be learned from Dario Franchitti’s topsy-turvy 2008 season, it’s that one should focus on doing something that challenges oneself and makes oneself happy.

After winning the 2007 Indianapolis 500 and the Indy Racing League championship, Franchitti said he didn’t feel as motivated as he should have been to go straight back into another IRL season. So he signed with car owner Chip Ganassi to race in NASCAR.

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AP

Dario Franchitti and his wife, actress Ashley Judd, celebrate in victory lane after his win in the Indianapolis 500 in 2007.

He was making progress there, both in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series, when Ganassi shut down the Cup team because of lack of sponsorship. Franchitti continued in the Nationwide Series for a time, then decided to go back to the IndyCar circuit, where he’ll run next year as a teammate to reigning champion Scott Dixon.

This weekend, he’ll team with Scott Sharp and David Brabham to drive an Acura for Patrón Highcroft Racing in the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in Braselton.

“Obviously, it’s been an interesting year,” said Franchitti, who broke his ankle in April and missed more than a month of racing. “It’s disappointing that the Cup deal didn’t go the way we’d hoped.

“Typical of the way these things normally happen, we were starting to run a lot better just before it got closed down. At Pocono, Michigan and Loudon [New Hampshire] we were running top-15 in those races. We qualified seventh at Loudon. I was starting to get it, as they say.”

It showed in the Nationwide Series when later he won the pole at the Watkins Glen road course and took the outside pole at Bristol and led 87 laps on the high-banked short track.

Even as his Nationwide results were showing dramatic improvement, he began to have renewed interest in open-wheel racing, especially after the reunification of the two sanctioning bodies — Champ Car and the Indy Racing League — and the addition of road and street courses to the schedule.

“I was talking to my friends that were still racing [Indy cars],” he said. “And watching the Indy 500 from afar, it really started to get into my head again that I wanted to do Indy cars again.

“One of the things I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older is that you’ve got to do what makes you happy if you can, and that’s what I did.”

Another open-wheel driver who has had a fling at NASCAR can identify with that. Adrian Fernandez has run 10 Nationwide Series races for Hendrick Motorsports over the past four seasons, but he’s satisfied running the ALMS. He said it’s not that open-wheel drivers can’t run fast in NASCAR cars, it’s that it takes time — lots of it — to know all the nuances and what adjustments must be made to be fast at the end of a 500-mile race.

“It’s not about being quick,” he said. “In testing, I was as quick as Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch. But it’s the whole weekend and the changes that need to be made — thousands of little things.”

Rather than spend years perfecting his NASCAR skills, Fernandez chose the ALMS.

“The ALMS is perfect for me,” he said. “I don’t fancy making NASCAR my career. I’m satisfied with what I’ve done. I don’t have to prove anything.”

One thing that makes both drivers happy is getting to compete in a race like the Petit.

“I love sports-car racing,” Franchitti said. “The cars are fabulous, and the type of racing is exciting.

“The fact that I can do this and Indy car racing at the same time means I’ve got the best of both worlds.”