Kyle Busch: ‘Enjoyed the experience’ at Rolex 24

Posted on January 26, 2020January 26, 2020 by Staff Report

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The event ran under clear skies, comfortable temperatures and a star-studded entry list that also featured newly-crowned NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch in a GTD class AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.

It was Busch’s Rolex 24 debut, and although his car finished ninth in the 18-car class field, he was impressive behind the wheel – completing four driving stints for more than six hours total. He was fast enough to make up laps on track, and up until the last driver change, he had the fastest lap in the car moving up the field even after several mechanical challenges so typical in the grueling ‘round-the-clock race.

“There was a lot going on and a lot to learn and kind of pick up on and figure out,” Busch said. “Overall, it was good. We had a lot of fun, I enjoyed it. Just being able to get back in a race car again, kind of my season warm-up if you will, and to be able to go out there and run a ton of laps and have a good go of it.

“Unfortunately, we just got a little behind with the brake change there, had some issues on the right-front caliper. I guess that got us a little bit further back than we wanted to be. We just didn’t have the long run pace.”

His team owner this weekend, former IndyCar Series champion Jimmy Vasser, was all smiles on pit lane as Busch drove the team’s No. 14 Lexus across the finish line. Obviously disappointed to miss a podium finish, Vasser remained optimistic about his team’s IMSA season and glad to have had Busch behind the wheel for this renowned race.

“A great team effort,” Vasser said. “With the troubles we had, nobody gave up, everybody pitched in. And speaking on Kyle, he impressed.

“I’m not sure why he impressed. He’s a NASCAR champion. He’s won more NASCAR races in the modern day than anybody, but it takes a lot of confidence and guts to jump into a discipline that he’d never really done before and he did it with ease.

“He was really, really impressive. He was running times of the top sports car pros. It was a joy to have him. He’s a very serious guy, but he was a joy to have on the team and really added a lot for our people to see how a true professional works. Not that we don’t have them here, but he’s a great champion and a true champion.”

Busch said he remains open to making a second Rolex start but insisted he wanted to evaluate the weekend before making any firm plans.

“Too soon to say,” Busch said. “I think I will digest all of this and figure it all out. I enjoyed the experience and being able to get out there and do it.”

Posted on January 26, 2020January 26, 2020 by Holly Cain

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — From executives at the driver’s meeting to drivers on pit road to competitors handing television duty, there was a broad NASCAR presence at the Rolex 24 Saturday morning as teams awaited the green flag.

Four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon was pit side checking in with the Wayne Taylor Racing team, with whom he won the 2017 Rolex 24 race. Former NASCAR Cup Series driver and Xfinity Series champion Brian Vickers was on pit road catching up with friends as was driver David Ragan, who said this was the first Rolex 24 he ever attended and he would be open to competing in a future race.

Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch is entered in the GTD Class No. 14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Acura and former Cup Series driver AJ Allmendinger, who is driving the No. 57 Acura NSX for Michael Shank Racing.

NASCAR on NBC’s Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Letarte manned the NBC broadcast.

“I’ll drive with Junior and maybe we could get Jimmie Johnson or Tony Stewart,” Gordon told Earnhardt and Letarte on the NBC Sports broadcast, joking about coming back to the Rolex 24 and running the race again with a NASCAR lineup.

“My number one goal when I was here, whether it was testing, whether back at shop doing pit practice or here in the race, don’t be the weak link,’’ Gordon said of his experience a couple seasons ago. “Unfortunately, first time I got in the car, I was the weak link. “I had to restart the car and we were leading under caution. I went into Turn 2 in the horseshoe and hit a guy and I hadn’t even been in the car five minutes. Luckily, I made up for that and the rest of my race went really well and I wasn’t the weak link.”

Posted on January 25, 2020January 26, 2020 by IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – With six hours remaining in the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway, Renger van der Zande led the way in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R at what could be a record pace. He was 17.509 seconds ahead of Loic Duval in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R.

Van der Zande and the No. 10 team that includes Kamui Kobayashi, Ryan Briscoe and Scott Dixon completed 631 laps through 18 hours. The current record, set two years ago by Joao Barbosa, Filipe Albuquerque and Christian Fittipaldi in the No. 5 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi, is 808 laps.

The No. 10 team’s lead at 18 hours also enabled it to extend its lead in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup standings to three, 14-11, after three of the four scoring segments in the Rolex 24.

Running third, more than 48 seconds behind the leader was Tristan Nunez in the No. 77 Mazda Team Joest RT-24P. There were three Daytona Prototype international (DPi) cars still on the lead lap. One lap behind was Ryan Hunter-Reay in fourth place driving in the No. 77 Mazda. Pipo Derani was fifth in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi, three laps behind the leader.

RELATED: Photos from Daytona

In the LMP2 class, Henrik Hedman led the way in the No. 81 DragonSpeed USA ORECA with a three-lap advantage over Ben Keating in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA. The No. 52 team dominated much of the of the race but lost three laps late in the 18th hour for a brake change.

That put the DragonSpeed team in a strong position to win its second consecutive Rolex 24 with a different set of co-drivers in Hedman, Ben Hanley, Colin Braun and Harrison Newey. However, the No. 52 team continues to lead the Michelin Endurance Cup standings with a two-point advantage, 14-12, over the No. 81 team through three scoring intervals.

There were three cars on the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class lead lap after 18 hours led by 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTLM champion Earl Bamber in the No. 912 Porsche GT Team 911 RSR. Bamber – who is sharing the car with Laurens Vanthoor and Mathieu Jaminet – led a 1-2 sweep for the team by 12.505 seconds over Nick Tandy in the No. 911 Porsche.

Looking for his second consecutive Rolex 24 victory, Augusto Farfus was running third in the No. 24 BMW Team RLL M8 GTE, also on the lead lap. The top three cars have controlled most of the first 18 hours among them.

The No. 912 and the No. 24 teams are tied atop the Michelin Endurance Cup standings with 13 points apiece.

It’s a Lamborghini-Audi battle in the GT Daytona (GTD) class with six hours to go, with a few others still lurking.

Heading the field was Corey Lewis in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 by 8.535 seconds over Dries Vanthoor in the No. 88 WRT Speedstar Audi Sport R8 LMS GT3. They were the only two cars on the lead lap in GTD, but two more cars, the No. 44 GRT Magnus Lamborghini in third and the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, were just one lap behind with six hours to go.

In addition to leading the race, the No. 48 team of Lewis, Bryan Sellers, Andrea Caldarelli and Madison Snow also took over sole possession of the Michelin Endurance Cup lead by two points, 13-11, over Andy Lally, John Potter, Spencer Pumpelly and Marco Mapelli in the No. 44 Lamborghini.

Live television coverage of the Rolex 24 continues on NBCSN until 12 p.m. ET, when NBC network coverage takes over for the finish. The race can also be streamed on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold and the NBC Sports App with authentication. IMSA Radio has complete coverage at IMSARadio.com, RadioLeMans.com and on SiriusXM.

NOTES
• A costly penalty for the No. 77 Mazda Team Joest Mazda DPi dropped it from the lead to the bottom of the DPi class charts about 10 hours through the race. Tristan Nunez was deemed to have made a pass under a yellow flag, mandating a drive-through penalty. Making impressive gains, the No. 77 was up to third at the 12-hour mark.

• The yellow flag that led to Nunez’s penalty was a result of the No. 19 GEAR Racing powered by GRT Grasser running slow and stopping in Speedway Turn 4. The car was towed back to the garage with the team believing the issue was related to fuel pressure. The car returned to track during the 11th hour of the race.

• An incident in the bus stop between Harry Tincknell in the No. 55 Mazda Team Joest DPi and Helio Castroneves in the No. 7 Acura DPi in the fourth hour sent the No. 7 into the tire barrier. Castroneves subsequently brought the car into the garage for lengthy repairs, while Tincknell continued but was given a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility. Castroneves eventually rejoined the race after losing 23 laps to the leader.

• The race’s first full course caution came out in the fifth hour of the race for an incident involving the GTD cars of Eric Lux in the No. 47 Precision Performance Motorsports Lamborghini and Alex Riberas in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin. The cars made contact near the pit entry and both slid through the infield grass. Lux got the No. 47 running and made his way into the pits, but the No. 23 suffered substantial front-end damage and could not be driven back and later retired from the race.

• There will be no three-peat for the No. 11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini squad as the car went to the garage for an extended stay with mechanical issues in the fourth hour. Franck Perera, who won this race with the team two years ago, brought the car in with fuel pressure problems just four laps after a pit stop.

Posted on January 25, 2020 by IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Riley Motorsports knows endurance racing.

Not only has the team won three consecutive IMSA Michelin Endurance Cups from 2017 – 2019 in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, but they are now back-to-back endurance race winners in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.

Following the four-hour BMW Endurance Challenge at Daytona International Speedway to open the season, the No. 35 Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Dylan Murry, Jim Cox and Jeroen Bleekemolen crossed the finish line first to claim the Grand Sport (GS) victory. The same trio of drivers also won last summer’s four-hour race at Watkins Glen International – and Murry and Cox also won November’s four-hour Michelin IMSA SportsCar Encore at Sebring.

“We’re petitioning IMSA to make all races four hours now,” said Cox.

However, the Mercedes-AMG didn’t cross the finish line at normal race pace. The yellow flag came out with 15 minutes left on the clock after Scott Maxwell’s No. 19 Ford Mustang GT4 slid across the grass in the bus stop and rear-first into the tire barrier. The car flipped upside down after the incident, but Maxwell was not injured.

The win for the Riley Motorsports trio is the second of their Pilot Challenge careers. The first was that race at Watkins Glen.

“I think the whole Riley team has done well with pit stop strategy and preparation,” said Bleekemolen, who has been a part of the team for each of the endurance accomplishments. “That’s definitely a big part of it, and then obviously Jim and Dylan also drove well, so it’s the whole thing together. I’ve ran a lot with this team, also in the [Rolex] 24, and we’ve always been leading the races here, sometimes even most of the race just because they have a good car, they know how to do it.”

Murry held a decent gap over another Mercedes-AMG, the No. 57 of Philip Ellis for Winward Racing before the caution came out, but that wasn’t always the case. Stalking from second place, Ellis gained on Murry and wound up leading two laps as the final pit-stop sequence occurred. However, Riley Motorsports’ work in the pits cycled Murry back into the lead for the remainder of the race.

“To be able to drive at Daytona is one thing, to be able to win here is an entirely different level, different world,” said Murry. “I can’t describe the emotions I’m going through right now. My dad has raced here, I grew up coming to this 24-hour race all my life watching my dad race, go around, and I finally get to stand on victory lane. It’s touching and special to me. I always said if I could win one race it would be Daytona and it’s come true and it’s exciting.”

Ellis and co-driver Bryce Ward held on for the runner-up finish while their sister car, the No. 4 shared by Indy Dontje and Russell Ward, made it a podium sweep for the German manufacturer.

The BMW Endurance Challenge race broadcast will air on NBCSN at 1 p.m. ET on Thursday, February 6. It is also available on-demand on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.

Road Shagger Racing Audi Clinches Memorable TCR Victory

While the race anticlimactically ended under caution, the thrill and excitement from Gavin Ernstone was as palpable as ever as he watched the No. 61 Road Shagger Racing Audi RS3 LMS come to the checkered flag, watching his co-driver, Jon Morley, cross the finish line first among the TCR class cars, Ernstone stood on the pit wall reveling in the fact they had just won on the 3.56-mile circuit at the World Center of Racing.

While they’ve experienced victory once before (at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca last year) during the team’s inaugural season, it’s clear this one will be long remembered.

“It was extremely emotional for me,” said Ernstone. “Daytona is legendary all around the world. We can say we won at Daytona. I was sobbing like a baby. I couldn’t watch the last 45 minutes of the race. (It was certainly) emotional for me, I’m sure for Jon too, it was huge and one of the biggest days of my life for sure.”

The No. 61 Audi started 11th on the grid, but slowly worked its way through the field. During the final pit stop of the race, Morley came within inches of the No. 32 Speed Syndicate Motorsports Audi of Mikey Taylor. In similar fashion to the GS class winners, a clutch pit stop kept the Road Shagger machine a fraction ahead of Taylor as the two cars left pit lane nose-to-tail, but Morley kept Taylor’s Audi at bay.

Taylor and co-driver William Tally finished second, while Stephen Simpson and Michael Johnson in the No. 54 machine for JDC-Miller Motorsports finished third, making it an all-Audi podium.

“I settled in following three other Audis all with incredible drivers in them,” said Morley. “We were helping each other, drafting, I could hang with them, I’d catch them every once and awhile. It didn’t feel like I had a distinct advantage on them, but there was a lot of time left. If I stuck with them, I knew my crew would get me by them and they did.”

The second race of the 2020 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season takes place at Sebring International Raceway during the SuperSebring weekend on March 18 – 21. The two-hour Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 goes green on Thursday, March 19 at 3:50 p.m. ET. That race is available live on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold. Tickets can be purchased at SebringRaceway.com.

Posted on January 24, 2020January 26, 2020 by IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Popular NASCAR driver turned commentator Dale Earnhardt Jr., and his former Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Steve Letarte, will broadcast their second Rolex 24 At Daytona this weekend. They met with the media Friday morning along with on-air talent Calvin Fish and Leigh Diffey as part of the NBC Sports team covering that is covering the race.

NBC Sports’ coverage of the Rolex 24 starts live on the NBC network Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET, with NBC network coverage of the finish airing at 12 p.m. ET Sunday. In addition to the network windows on Saturday and Sunday, additional Rolex 24 Coverage includes windows on NBCSN and the NBC Sports App and the race in its entirety on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.

Fish, a former driver and longtime IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship announcer, spoke about the extended benefits of having the NASCAR pair on the broadcast team for the Rolex 24 for a second consecutive year.

“I think we just have a great mix,” Fish said. “It’s great to be back, and I think last year working with Dale and Steve up there on the pit box, they come at the sport from a different angle so they’re very curious about a lot of things and I think that opens you up to look at it differently yourself.

“I think that was great for the fans.”

Earnhardt was similarly enthused to be trackside for the annual twice-around-the-clock classic endurance race. He competed in the race twice, scoring a memorable runner-up finish in 2001, co-driving a GTO-class Chevrolet Corvette with his father, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt and sports car champion Andy Pilgrim.

He finished fifth overall and third in the marquee Daytona Prototype class in the 2004 Rolex 24 co-driving with NASCAR champion Tony Stewart and sports car great Andy Wallace. The team led 345 of 519 laps, only to suffer a suspension problem in the closing laps.

“I have to remind myself that I even ran this race a couple times because we come here as the NASCAR guys. When you sit on the [NBC Sports] pit box you really do kind of fall into that fandom sort of experience watching the race and seeing who the underdogs are and who the guys to beat are,” Earnhardt said smiling.

“It’s an incredible experience from a fan perspective.”

Earnhardt joked that he and Letarte were enjoying their Rolex experience so much, they should field a team and compete themselves one day soon. Earnhardt said Letarte would be the designated “gentlemen” driver, he would be the 50-plus driver because he’d probably be 50 years old before they could make this attempt.

“Then we’d have to have someone really really fast to save us,” Earnhardt said. “Every time we daydream about it’s a different driver.”

Both Earnhardt and Letarte said they fully expected Kyle Busch would not only enjoy his first 24-hour race experience but fully expected the reigning Cup champ to be competitive in his driving stints. There wasn’t much advice Earnhardt felt he could give the recently crowned two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Busch at this point.

“Kyle’s got a great team around him and great drivers that he’s working with and his experience will be completely different from mine,” Earnhardt said. “It was so long ago that I don’t know that I could help him a whole lot.

“It will be fun to watch him experience it. He’s such a talented driver. He’s going to be so prepared mentally and knows exactly what he needs to do to do the job right.”

Posted on January 24, 2020January 24, 2020 by IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Kyle Busch conceded there have been some definite “lessons” preparing for his first Rolex 24 At Daytona start. But the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion was quite optimistic about his No. 14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 and the challenge that awaited the team.

The car will start 16th among the 18 GTD cars. The team did not make a qualifying run after an eventful pre-qualifying session when the car went over a raised speed bump-type section of the bus stop turn entering the NASCAR Speedway Turn 3.

The team repaired the damage from the heavy hit, changed the engine and had limited practice Thursday evening. Busch insisted the team recovered well, and that he and driver Jack Hawksworth, who drives the car full time, were back to quicker lap times by Friday morning.

“We’d love to get that better and feel a little more competitive, but we’re also trying to make sure we stay on track and complete all 24 hours,” Busch told reporters on Friday. “Got some good laps last night and some good laps this morning. I think I ran the quickest of our cars this morning,” adding with a grin, “I’m not sure what that means.”

The team handed out driving assignments on Friday and Busch said he is tentatively scheduled to drive from 6-9 p.m. on Saturday, overnight from 2-4:30 a.m. and then again Sunday morning, 7-9 a.m. Of course the schedule changes – in lineup and timeframe – as the twice-around-the-clock event goes on.

Posted on January 24, 2020 by RJ Kraft

The Daytona 500. The biggest race on the NASCAR calendar. You win it and your name is etched in history forever.

Seven drivers enter the 2020 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway (Feb. 16, 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX) having already won “The Great American Race:” Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson have each won twice, while Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman and Kevin Harvick have all won this race once.

Which driver is most likely to repeat as a Daytona 500 winner come February? NASCAR.com’s Zack Albert and RJ Kraft debate the possibilities.

KRAFT: This is likely the obvious choice on the list given his superspeedway success, but it’s hard for me to see how Joey Logano would not be the first choice to notch another Daytona 500 victory. The Team Penske driver has four superspeedway wins in his career. He also has finished in the top six in the past five Daytona 500s – the only driver to do so. The 29-year-old has a knack for being at the front when it’s go time at these types of races.

Team Penske’s superspeedway strength is an additional reason I view Logano as the most likely repeat winner – he’s the only Penske driver on the potential repeat winner list. Logano’s teammates Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney are strong superspeedway racers, and the trio have a knack for finding a way to work together at this type of racing. Add in Ford’s strength in numbers as well, and that’s an added recipe for success to Logano adding another Harley J. Earl Trophy to his collection.

ALBERT: Obvious choice? If we’re keeping the discussion to former winners, let’s not dig all that far back into the history books and go with a recent Joey Logano foil who already has multiple 500 crowns: Denny Hamlin.

Hamlin has three wins at a similar track called Talladega Superspeedway in the last five years, but his Daytona 500 statistics rate even more highly when it comes to consistency. In the last six Daytona 500s, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has a stellar average finish of 4.67 (a hair better than Logano’s 5.33). Perhaps more impressively, Hamlin has gone his whole career (a span of 14 starts) without a Daytona 500 DNF.

JGR-affiliated cars led more than half of last year’s running of “The Great American Race” (116 of 207 laps) and wound up with a 1-2-3 finish, so their ability to make teamwork click is a relatively fresh concept. Don’t be surprised if it’s Hamlin leading that charge again.

Posted on January 24, 2020January 24, 2020 by Chase Wilhelm

Editor’s note: Today’s Germain Racing preview continues NASCAR.com’s countdown of team previews for the NASCAR Cup Series season, ranked in order of best finish in last year’s owner standings.

MORE: Changes to know for the 2020 season

GERMAIN RACING
Manufacturer: Chevrolet
Engine: ECR
Driver: Ty Dillon
Crew Chief: Matt Borland

What’s new: It appears to be more of the same for Germain Racing and driver Dillon for the 2020 season. Crew chief Matt Borland will be back at the helm for the No. 13 crew, signing a multi-year deal back in 2018. Dillon and GEICO also signed a multi-year contract back in 2017, set to be featured as the primary sponsor for 32 races this year.

Team strength: Superspeedway racing is Germain Racing’s strong suit. Dillon and team are tied with Hendrick Motorsports for the longest active streak of races at Daytona with at least one top-10 finish (three straight races). Dillon earned three top-10 finishes in 2019, coming at both Daytona races and Talladega in the fall.

The Action Network Best Bet: Ty Dillon was sneaky good at the superspeedways in 2019, finishing sixth, 17th, fourth and 10th. In fact, both of those top-six runs came at Daytona, making him a nice target for both driver matchups and top-10 props at the Daytona 500. – PJ Walsh

TY DILLON: NO. 13 CHEVROLET

2019 Stats: One top five, three top 10s; 20.6 average finish with 99.2 percent of laps completed
2020 Championship Odds: 5000-1
Racing Insights Number to Know: Five. Their five best finishes came at Daytona, including a fourth-place finish in July and a sixth there in February.
Fantasy Live Picks: Talladega, Daytona, Phoenix
Outlook: Heading into his fourth full-time NASCAR Cup Series season with Germain Racing, Dillon doesn’t have the stellar finishes, but he does know how to take care of equipment. The 27-year-old driver completed the 2019 season with a goose egg in the DNF column, which is a huge accomplishment for a smaller, one-car team in the field. If Dillon can keep that going, plus get a few more stage wins like he did in Stage 1 at Bristol last spring by edging out Clint Bowyer, the upward trend has all the potential to continue going into 2020.

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NASCAR.com 2020 team previews schedule

Jan. 20: Teams outside the top 30
Jan. 21: Go Fas Racing
Jan. 22: Front Row Motorsports
Jan. 23: Richard Petty Motorsports
Jan. 24: Germain Racing
Jan. 27: Leavine Family Racing
Jan. 28: Richard Childress Racing
Jan. 29: JTG Daugherty Racing
Jan. 30: Wood Brothers Racing
Jan. 31: Roush Fenway Racing
Feb. 3: Hendrick Motorsports
Feb. 4: Chip Ganassi Racing
Feb. 5: Team Penske
Feb. 6: Stewart-Haas Racing
Feb. 7: Joe Gibbs Racing

Posted on January 24, 2020 by Holly Cain

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Sitting side by side on stage Thursday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway, Lyn St. James and Hailie Deegan represented two significant eras in auto-racing competition.

St. James was the first woman to earn an IMSA GT-class solo victory in 1985 and won three times competing in a Ford Mustang for Jack Roush that season. This weekend, Deegan will make her IMSA debut driving the No. 22 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4 in Friday’s Michelin Pilot Challenge four-hour race – the car designed with a tribute livery to St. James’ 1985 car.

Fans can watch the event exclusively on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.

MORE: How to get TrackPass

In her IMSA sports-car career as a Ford driver, St. James earned six wins, including a pair of Rolex 24 class victories.

“Meeting Lyn, someone who has had such a historical presence in the sport and done so much in the past and just to pick your brain on everything and everything you know especially — and not just being a racer but being a girl in racing,” Deegan said, smiling at St. James. “And also being just a true racer at heart and having pure talent like she has, I think it’s definitely cool to go back and go through scenarios we can relate on.”

Deegan, 18, who was recently announced as a Ford Performance development program driver, will team with 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship contender Chase Briscoe in the four-hour IMSA race Friday – a day before the annual Rolex 24 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener on Daytona’s road course.

RELATED: Rolex 24 guide

Briscoe, 25, who won the 2019 Xfinity Series Sunoco Rookie of the Honors, drives for Stewart-Haas Racing and has competed in this Michelin Pilot Challenge event three times previously. Another up-and-coming NASCAR star, Austin Cindric, will be driving a second car for the Multimatic team.

For her part, St. James said she was truly honored for the team to use a paint scheme acknowledging her efforts. She has been a long-time advocate for women in racing and spent more than a decade as an advisor to Ford Motor Company.

“It’s awesome to be sitting here and remembered,” St. James said. “It was great to meet Hailie. I’ve followed her career even before she was doing some things last year and I knew that she was a rising star. I knew Chase and remember him from back when he was doing sprint car stuff.

“I follow the young drivers and what they’re doing. It’s just great to be in their presence and to be able to hang with them.”

Deegan will compete full time in the ARCA Menards Series, which opens its season Feb. 8 on Daytona’s 2.5-mile high banks and is planning to compete more Michelin Pilot Challenge races throughout 2020.

Posted on January 24, 2020January 24, 2020 by Staff Report

FOX Sports confirmed Friday that the network will go with a two-person booth for its primary NASCAR Cup Series coverage in 2020, with Mike Joy returning as play-by-play announcer alongside analyst Jeff Gordon.

The move comes after the retirement last year of longtime analyst Darrell Waltrip, who had been part of FOX Sports’ NASCAR coverage since 2001. The news of FOX’s new lineup was first reported by Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal.

Joy returns as NASCAR on FOX’s lead announcer for the 20th consecutive season, part of his 50 years of motorsports experience. This season will mark the 70-year-old broadcaster’s 45th Daytona Speedweeks as part of the TV or radio coverage team.

RELATED: Daytona 500 info

Gordon, 48, is back for his fifth straight season providing color commentary for FOX Sports. The four-time Cup Series champion joined the network after his retirement from full-time driving in 2015. Gordon was inducted to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2019.