NASCAR keeps up with Speedweeks tradition

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Renewing a tradition while reinvigorating a classic event, NASCAR drivers are returning again to the sports-car spectacle that annually kicks off Speedweeks -- the Rolex 24 at Daytona on Jan. 26-27.

Stock-car drivers disguised for several days as road racers -- it's nothing new at Daytona International Speedway, site of the Rolex 24, a round-the-clock endurance event that, strangely enough, started off as a comparable sprint -- the three-hour Daytona Continental in 1962.

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Immediately, the concept attracted NASCAR types; in '62, the man who was perhaps NASCAR's first marquee star, Fireball Roberts, hopped into a Ferrari and finished 12th in a race won by a sports-car/open-wheel legend-in-the-making named Dan Gurney. Roberts won the Daytona 500 two weeks later.

The race expanded to 12 hours in 1964. Cale Yarborough was there with fellow NASCAR regulars G.C. Spencer and Bill Wade, co-driving a Chevrolet Corvette to a 29th-place finish.

In 1966 came the full-blown move to 24 hours; Bobby Allison co-drove a Chevy Corvair that lasted only 63 laps and finished 57th. In 1973, former Daytona 500 champion Tiny Lund co-drove a Pontiac Firebird, finishing 48th.

NASCAR involvement went beyond the novelty stage in 1976. The Rolex 24 field included eight actual Cup Series cars. The group was even accorded its own class designation -- Grand International, the name applicable because the class also was added to the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans later that year. Three-time Cup champion David Pearson teamed with his son Larry and two others to win the Grand International title in a Ford Torino and finish 16th overall.

And so it has gone through the years, a steady stream of NASCAR involvement with highlights aplenty:

• 1983, Darrell Waltrip and A.J. Foyt: Future and former Daytona 500 champions were co-drivers of an Aston Martin that broke down early -- allowing Foyt to switch to co-driving the eventual race-winning Porsche 935 owned by Preston Henn.

• 1984, Terry Labonte: Along with Billy Hagan co-drove a Camaro to the GT1 class victory and finished seventh overall -- a precursor to their season of winning the Cup championship.

• 1995, Mark Martin: Won one of his four production-based class titles, co-driving to the GTS-1 victory, in a Ford Mustang fielded by Jack Roush. The last of Martin's four class victories in the Rolex 24 had actor Pual Newman as one of his co-drivers.

• 2001, Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Finished fourth overall and second in the GTS class, co-driving a Chevrolet Corvette. It was the only time the elder Earnhardt drove in the Rolex 24.

• 2006, Casey Mears: Joined open-wheelers Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon to win the Rolex 24, in a Lexus Riley fielded by Chip Ganassi.

• 2007, Juan Montoya: The NASCAR newcomer is part of the winning team in a Lexus Riley.

• 2007, Jeff Gordon: The four-time Cup champion made his Rolex 24 debut and helped drive a Pontiac Riley to a third-place finish.

And now, in 2008, two-time and reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson headlines yet another NASCAR contingent that includes former champion Kurt Busch, A.J. Allmendinger, Montoya and another open-wheel convert, last year's Indianapolis 500 champion, Dario Franchitti, Montoya's teammate in the defending championship Lexus Riley entry of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.

Johnson, who finished second in the Rolex 24 in 2005, is a co-driver for the 2007 Rolex Series championship team of GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing.

"I watched Casey Mears, a great friend of mine, win in 2006; I watched the event on television," Johnson said. "I said, 'You know, I finished second in this thing and I've got to work hard to find a ride that I can go down there and have a chance of winning with. It's really a dream come true to come down, compete and be a favorite in the event. I'm here strictly to win."