Drivers battle jet lag after Rolex 24-Vegas schedule

LAS VEGAS -- Juan Montoya and Dario Franchitti arrived at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on a cloud, and the brisk winds and mid-40-degree temperatures had nothing to do with it.

They arrived late for the second round of Sprint Cup Preseason Thunder as champions of the Rolex 24 at Daytona -- Montoya for the second consecutive year -- and once they got to the track wasted little time in getting down to business.

Unfortunately for Franchitti, the euphoria didn't last as he crashed one of his No. 40 Dodges in Turn 3 within minutes of the track going green Monday afternoon after fellow rookie Sam Hornish Jr. had crashed his No. 77 Penske Racing Dodge.

Three in a row

Juan Montoya and Dario Franchitti helped Chip Ganassi Racing to its third consecutive victory in the Rolex 24.

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Four drivers who were at the Las Vegas test, including Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch, had top-three finishes in the 24-hour race over the weekend.

Franchitti's No. 40 Ganassi Racing Dodge rolled onto the racetrack for the first time at 10:20 a.m. local time and made about an eight-lap run. His Colombian teammate had slept in a little longer, and arrived at the track at about 10:30.

Montoya's No. 42 Charger was the next-to-last car to make it out onto the high-banked, 1.5-mile oval, but he did take the second car the team had at the track onto pit road at 10:56 a.m. By then, the session was under its first interruption when a brief spit of rain occurred off Turn 2 at about 10:44 a.m.

Montoya was the first car out when action resumed at 11:01 a.m., making a five-lap run. The cars ran for less than five minutes before rain caused an early lunch break.

At the end of the first session, Franchitti was 48th on the sheet and Montoya's best car was 64th of 68 cars that got on track.

By then, two-time defending Cup Series champion Johnson and Las Vegas native Busch were bright-eyed for a couple other reasons concerning both their Grand-Am Rolex Series teams as well as their Sprint Cup efforts.

Johnson's Gainsco/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley team battled a minor gearbox glitch and finished second in the Rolex 24 and Busch, who was third driving a Penske-Taylor Racing Pontiac Riley that was crippled by overheating issues in the last third of the race in only his second try at the Rolex, were happy with their results.

But even more, both were still locked on East Coast time, so they thought it was late morning when they walked into the back gate of the Las Vegas garage.

"I'm a little sore in some spots, but I love it," Johnson said. "I woke up this morning smiling [saying], 'Hell yeah, I get to drive another racecar today,' so I'm pumped."

Johnson's No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was the first car on the racetrack, at 9:05 a.m., and he made a 10-lap run to start. He ended the shortened first morning session 15th on the chart.

Johnson has expressed his enjoyment of the Rolex 24 as well as his desire to win it, so coming off another second-place finish (the other was in 2005), he wasn't disappointed to fall just a little more than two laps behind the winning team, which also included Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas.

Photo Gallery

A tradition was born in 1962 when Daytona Beach native Fireball Roberts became the first NASCAR driver to compete in the sports-car sprint that has evolved into the Rolex 24.

• More pictures, click here

"I don't feel frustration," Johnson said. "I'm sure the team may feel a little frustrated and disappointed, but from my standpoint, just finishing that thing -- I've raced it four times now and only finished two of them -- so it's a tough, tough event."

Johnson has run two consecutive Rolex races after he took the year off in 2006 and buddy Casey Mears won. Johnson's already looking forward to the next time.

"I was a little disappointed that we broke the transmission, but we still got a good finish," Johnson said. "I definitely feel satisfied and I'm excited to go back next year.

"I keep learning how to drive those cars and figuring out how to be more competitive. I keep learning more and more how to deal with that race and the challenges that you have during the course of the evening -- how to take care of your stuff. It's a big educational process running those endurance races and I'm going through that now."

Along with most of the rest of the garage denizens, he was also adjusting to the first westward trip of the season.

"I was so distorted on what time it was, I stayed up all the way out [Sunday] night and went to bed about 8 o'clock [11 p.m. ET]," Johnson said. "I woke up this morning at 7 and off we go. I think it's better to stay up until whatever time zone you're in and try to get back to the cycle that way. So I got a good night's sleep and I'm ready to go."

"I fell asleep on the plane last night," Busch said of his early evening arrival. "When I woke up this morning, it was 5 o'clock here but it felt like it was 8 o'clock back East, so I'm ready to go.

"My body feels good after a run like that and being at home, everything's comfortable and the surroundings are familiar. But it's a new car, it's a different style track for these cars so again, this year is going to be a lot of learning and getting up to speed, because you just can't hit the racetrack running full-out, like you used to. The new [Cup] car is going to take some respect."

Franchitti and Montoya flew on the same airplane and were delayed in Dallas after making a fuel stop. They arrived in Las Vegas late Sunday evening.

Busch had the benefit of being back in familiar territory, even if the previous race weekend hadn't been.

"I had a blast," said Busch, who was 31st in Monday's morning session at Las Vegas. "As different as it was it felt comfortable to me and just getting in the car and going through my stints, each time I went out I learned some things. I'm frustrated, I'm thrilled about the experience and I'm ready to do it again.

"The excitement was top notch, with the thrill of being in the hunt for the win at the 24 hours. We still have some work to do [but] with Ganassi running so strong for the last few years and the [Gainsco] car won the most races last year, so if we can finish third to those two cars, that's something pretty special, the first time out."

Busch said he wasn't sure what the team's plans would be for next year's Rolex 24 -- or even any other Rolex Series races later this season.

"The key would be if it was a conjunction weekend, like Watkins Glen or Daytona, but I haven't made any calls, obviously with it being so fresh," Busch said. "But I do enjoy driving those cars. I think they're a blast [because] they turn, they stop, they accelerate and they shift great -- all of the things our Cup cars don't do.

"So if the opportunity comes up, yeah, we might try it. But my wife says we race 38 times a year and there's no more racing I can do outside of my 38 Cup races."