Chip Ganassi Racing was on the cutting edge of NASCAR’s international initiative, first hiring Juan Pablo Montoya then signing up Dario Franchitti.

These days Ganassi is simply cutting.

In a stunning move Tuesday Ganassi announced that Franchitti’s Sprint Cup team was being shut down. And by “shut down” I don’t mean at the end of the season. The No. 40 car is parked.

“This is a difficult decision . . . that did not come without its share of anguish,” Ganassi said in a statement. “In this tough business environment continuing to run the car without proper funding has become increasingly difficult.”

In many ways this is an absolutely stunning development. When Franchitti was first signed it was a coup. Here was a guy who was the defending Indy Racing League champion and the fellow who got to chug milk in victory lane after winning the 2007 Indianapolis 500.

Aside from bringing an international superstar to NASCAR, it also meant Franchitti’s wife, Ashley Judd, would get to parade around the garage area wearing really swell Hollywood clothes.

Thus, we all won.

But racing is a performance-based business, and Franchitti simply didn’t deliver the goods this year.

Franchitti is a miserable 41st in the Cup points standings, having started just 10 of 17 events. He missed five due to a broken ankle suffered at the spring race in Talladega, but he also failed to qualify for the June 22 event at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. He started 7th in Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway but ended up 38th.

Had the money been there I’m sure Ganassi would’ve stuck it out with Franchitti. After all, there’s a major learning curve when going from open wheel competition to the stock car variety, so few expected him to be a Sprint Cup player in his first year.

And the Scotsman has quite a resume.

With over 180 starts under his belt between the defunct CART and IndyCar Series, he logged 18 wins, 17 poles, 63 top-five and 95 top-10 finishes. Franchitti is the winningest driver in U.S. open-wheel history from Great Britain, and he also captured the 2007 12 Hours of Sebring in the LMP2 Class.

His best Cup showing was a 22nd place spot at Martinsville.

So what’s next?

Ganassi said he’s committed to Franchitti’s NASCAR development, but for now that simply means more seat time in a Nationwide Series car this year. He’ll likely run the remainder of the schedule in the support series, which I suppose could serve as a tryout for sponsors. And if he does well, perhaps it’ll convince some folks with money to put him back in a Cup car in 2009.

With NASCAR a billion dollar industry, it seems odd that a team as well-respected (and well-funded) as Ganassi Racing would have cash woes, but in the short-term funding Franchitti’s Cup team just wasn’t making financial sense.

Now it’ll be interesting to see if Franchitti is willing to stick it out and try to work his way back into Cup competition — or return “home” to the IRL.

If nothing else, his troubles might serve as a cautionary tale for any IRL driver who is considering driving a car with a roof.