Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Bowyer to drive for HScott in 2016

 

HScott Motorsports and Clint Bowyer have welcomed a new sponsor. A VISINE paint scheme will adorn Clint Bowyer‘s No. 15 Chevrolet fielded by HScott Motorsports as primary sponsor in three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events this season. VISINE will also serve as an associate sponsor and marketing partner for the entire season.

 

The primary sponsorship includes the races at Auto Club Speedway on March 20, Texas Motor Speedway on April 9 and Pocono Raceway on June 5.

 

Last month, HScott Motorsports announced that it was moving shop locations from Spartanburg, South Carolina to Mooresville, North Carolina. The team also revealed that Bowyer will continue to pilot the No. 15, which is a transposition for HScott, which inherited the No. 51 when it purchased the team from James Finch in 2013.

 

5-Hour Energy will be the primary sponsor of Bowyer’s entry for 24 of next season’s 36 races.

RELATED: See more 2016 paint schemes

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 31, 2016) — While the 54th Rolex 24 At Daytona is shaping up to be one of the most competitive in the race’s history, attrition has claimed a handful of favorites as the race hits the halfway mark and the second segment of the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup.

At the conclusion of the 12th hour, multiple cars remain on the lead lap in all four IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship classes, but it’s the cars that are no longer in contention that are the story. Among those: the early favorites in both the Prototype and GT Daytona (GTD) classes, and last year’s overall race winner.

The action started in the eighth hour when Tony Kanaan, driving the defending race-winning No. 02 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford EcoBoost/Riley DP, went behind the wall with a brake issue while running second. One hour later, the class of the Prototype field retired when Ozz Negri pulled the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Tire Kingdom Honda Ligier JS P2 off the track with an engine failure while leading.

That left the battle for the Prototype lead and the race for the maximum five Patrón Endurance Cup points awarded at the 12-hour mark to none other than the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DP of Scott Pruett — who enters the race tied with Hurley Haywood with five overall Rolex 24 wins — and the No. 2 Tequila Patrón Honda Ligier JS P2 of Pipo Derani. Derani passed Pruett with five minutes remaining in the segment to earn the maximum five points.

Through two segments the No. 2 Tequila Patrón Honda Ligier JS P2 and the No. 31 Whelen Corvette DP — which finished the second segment in third — lead the Prototype class with seven points in the four-race competition that makes up the four longest endurance races in the WeatherTech Championship. The Michael Shank Racing entry also has seven points, but is out of the race and will score the minimum two points in the two remaining segments.

A major shakeup also occurred in the GTD class in the 10th hour. The No. 16 Pertamina/Monster Energy Lamborghini Huracán GT3 of Justin Marks and the No. 48 Castrol/Universal Industrial Services Lamborghini Huracán GT3 of Bryce Miller collided in Turn 1 while battling for the lead, knocking both out of contention. The No. 48 Lamborghini is tied for the Patrón Endurance Cup lead at seven points with the race-leading No. 23 Team Seattle/Heart of Racing Porsche 911 GT3R.

The No. 52 Professional Security Consultants ORECA FLM09 of PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports has led at the end of both segments to lead in PC with 10 points, while the No. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR team leads the way with nine points in GTLM. The No. 912 Porsche is second with seven points, along with the No. 68 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GTE which leads at halfway.

The Patrón Endurance Cup will continue with the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida, Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda at Road Atlanta.

Posted on by Holly Cain

RELATED: Best photos from Rolex 24

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona was certainly rare of late, in that none of the current NASCAR drivers entered in the great sports car race hoisted an overall winner’s trophy.

Since Casey Mears became the first full-time Sprint Cup Series driver to score an overall victory in this event in 2006 — NASCAR drivers have won five more grand Rolex titles, including team owner Chip Ganassi’s head-turning sixth overall victory last year.

XFINITY Series driver Brendan Gaughan was NASCAR’s highest finisher this year, his No. 20 ORECA FLM09 finishing third in the PC class; nine laps behind the class winner and eight laps ahead of the next car in class; 43 laps down to the overall winner.

“It was a lot of fun to come back to the 24 — my average finish is 2 now (he won in GT3 Class in 2011) so I either retire now or come back for another Rolex,’” Gaughan said. “Such a great event and what an honor to be here.”


Former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year (2011) Andy Lally claimed his fifth class win in the GTD classification.

But as is sometimes the case in this 24-hour endurance test, some of NASCAR’s biggest names didn’t end up hoisting trophies, instead finding the value in turning laps on the speedway to feel prepped and ready come stock car’s version of Speedweeks here in two weeks.

“I’m spending Tuesday with my new spotter and we’re going to watch speedway races and intermediate tracks and go over what we expect of each other,” 2015 race winner Jamie McMurray said. “Once this race is over, your focus just goes to your real job (in NASCAR).”

The defending overall Rolex race winning team of McMurray and co-drivers Kyle Larson, IndyCar champion Scott Dixon and former Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan finished 13th overall, 28 laps down after a crash with approximately three hours remaining thwarted any chance of a podium finish.

Larson was driving when the car suffered its second major brake problem of the race, launching the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year straight into a tire barrier at substantial speed.

“That one time, it locked early and wasn’t slowing down and I didn’t make the corner and I drilled the barriers,” Larson said, assuring that he was fine physically.

“I’ve never hit anything like that so I was just hoping it would be soft. It was pretty soft. I’m not hurting at all. Glad I’m going to be here in two weeks in a stock car.”

His No. 02 Ford prototype suffered multiple nagging problems throughout its title defense this week, forcing time off track to repair and the laps lost — even earlier in the event — proved too much to overcome. Still, they finished seventh in class.

NASCAR driver AJ Allmendinger was scored 50th in the 54-car field. His No. 60 Honda prototype — which won the 50th anniversary of this race four years ago — suffered engine failure about nine and a half hours into the 24-hour affair. The Michael Shank Racing team had hoped to score a victory in honor of their longtime driver Justin Wilson, who was killed competing in an IndyCar race last season.

And while the overall race winning Honda team will duly and deservedly earn the world’s headlines this week, the new look Daytona International Speedway will also be talked about for a great while.


RELATED: Larson, McMurray react to Daytona renovations


It proved a wonderful venue for the Rolex and will be packed with fans and VIPs in only two weeks as NASCAR takes over for its 2016 edition of Speedweeks. Having some time to check out the $400 million speedway makeover this week, the drivers were impressed and enthused about the new-look facility. And track executives couldn’t be more ready to introduce it to the NASCAR crowd.

“The Rolex 24 is a unique event but the focus has always been on the infield,” Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood said. “We’re so excited that Daytona Rising and the Rolex 24 has given fans a chance to check out the concourses, sight lines and seats, but with NASCAR coming to town, we know all the grandstand amenities on the other side of the stadium will be put to their fullest tests because we’ll get maximum capacity.

“So all those great NASCAR fans that never get a chance to get into the infield are going to enjoy the Daytona 500 and the events with all the great things on the outside — 1,400 screens, we’ve got wifi in all concourses, vertical transportation, social zones, you name it.

“That’s when we’ll put the Daytona International Speedway to a true test when we’re at max capacity with all those NASCAR fans during Speedweeks.”

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: NBC Sports Live Extra


All times ET

Monday, Feb. 1
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
2 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FS2

Tuesday, Feb. 2
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
5:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
3 a.m. NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FS2

Wednesday, Feb. 3
7 a.m., NASCAR America (re-air), NBCSN
7:30 a.m., NASCAR America (re-air), NBCSN
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
5:30 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
3 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FS2

Thursday, Feb. 4
7 a.m., NASCAR America (re-air), NBCSN
7:30 a.m., NASCAR America (re-air), NBCSN
8 a.m., NASCAR America (re-air), NBCSN
8:30 a.m., NASCAR America (re-air), NBCSN
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN
5 p.m., NASCAR Race Hub, FS1
2 a.m., NASCAR Race Hub (re-air), FS2

Friday, Feb. 5
7 a.m., NASCAR America (re-air), NBCSN
8 a.m., NASCAR America (re-air), NBCSN
3:30 p.m., NASCAR America: Stories of NASCAR #6 (re-air), NBCSN
4 p.m., NASCAR America: Top Moments (re-air), NBCSN
4:30 p.m., The List: Best Daytona Moments, NBCSN
5 p.m., NASCAR America, NBCSN

Saturday, Feb. 6
7:30 p.m., The List: Best Daytona Moments (re-air), NBCSN
11:30 p.m., The List: Best Daytona Moments (re-air), NBCSN

 

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Photos from Rolex 24 at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Appropriately enough, after 24 hours of seemingly non-stop action, the fastest car still running was the overall winner of the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

Luis Felipe “Pipo” Derani, a baby-faced 22-year-old racing prodigy from Brazil, took the checkered flag on Sunday afternoon in the No. 2 Tequila Patron ESM Honda-powered Ligier JS P2, 26.166 seconds ahead of 2005 overall winner Max Angelleli in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP.

Derani brought home victory for teammates Scott Sharp, a Rolex 24 winner in 1996 (partnered, coincidentally, with Wayne Taylor), Ed Brown and Johannes van Overbeek.

Derani, who also gave Honda its first win in the season-opening event in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, is the fourth youngest overall winner of the race.

“The last two-and-a-half hours were pretty tough, pretty intense, with the Taylor brothers (Ricky and Jordan in the No. 10) pushing us really hard,” Derani said. “So to not make any mistakes and increase the gap up to the end was amazing.”

In the factory-backed GT Le Mans Class, Oliver Gavin held off Corvette Racing teammate Antonio Garcia in a side-by-side battle at the stripe to win the classification by .034 seconds in the No. 4 Corvette C7.R.

With two laps left, Garcia passed Gavin to the outside in the tri-oval, but with a deft crossover move, Gavin retook the top spot as the cars entered Turn 1.

“To race against Antonio is a pleasure,” Gavin said. “He’s an amazing teammate, and I knew I was going to have my work cut out to beat him.”

In GT Daytona, Magnus Racing’s Rene Rast nursed his No. 44 Audi R8 LMS GT3 to the finish line to hold off Nicky Catsburg in the No. 540 Porsche GT3 R by 3.048 seconds.

Rast’s co-drivers were John Potter, Marco Seefried and 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sunoco rookie of the year Andy Lally, who picked up his fifth class win (and fourth in a GT car) in the Rolex 24.

In a gut-wrenching late-race decision by the team, Rast let the No. 28 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 driven by Fabio Babini pass him with eight minutes left, calculating the Lamborghini wouldn’t be able to finish the race on fuel. The gamble paid off.

But the Audi was short on fuel, too. Rast ran out of gas on the backstretch after taking the checkered flag.

“This means my little sister gets a watch,” said Lally, who has won a total of eight Rolexes (and given six of the previous seven away) with his five class wins and three series titles. “This was teamwork. This was amazing. …

“We were the little engine that could today. We probably had the slowest top speeds of everybody, but we had a really good-handling car, and we had superstars that were driving this thing who were my teammates.”

Chris Miller, Stephen Simpson, Misha Goikhberg and Kenton Koch drove the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Chevrolet-powered ORECA FLM 09 to a convincing four-lap victory in the Prototype Challenge class.

Finishing third in PC, nine laps down was the pole-winning No. 20 BAR1 Motorsports team that included full-time NASCAR driver Brendan Gaughan.

The No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier JS P2 was the equal of the overall race winner, if not better, but engine failure in the eighth hour sidelined the entry piloted by NASCAR driver AJ Allmendinger, Oswaldo Negri, John Pew and Olivier Pla.

In fact, soon after Allmendinger turned over the car to Negri as the clock approached midnight on Saturday, the car expired while leading.

The defending overall champion No. 02 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Prototype raced by NASCAR drivers Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson and IndyCar stars Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan suffered brake problems while running second and lost five laps in the eighth hour.

But the coup de grace to the team’s hopes for back-to-back wins came with 2 hours 50 minutes left, when Larson went off course in the West Hairpin and slammed nose-first into the tire barrier.

Again, brakes were the culprit.

“The four laps previous we started getting brake issues again,” Larson said afterward. “They said it looked like I had just lost all my rear brake, but it was locking my fronts up pretty easy, so I started braking really early. …

“It didn’t slow down enough to make the corner, and I drilled the barrier. We didn’t have a shot to win anyway, but it does suck that we tore up a race car, and I’m disappointed.”

The car left the track on a roll-back (though it did return after repairs), but Larson was unhurt in the crash. Now he can turn his attention to his full-time job, competing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in the No. 42 Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

“I’m going toward the tire barriers really fast, and you’re just like, ‘I’ve never hit anything like that,’ ” Larson said. “So I was just kind of hoping it was going to be soft. It was pretty soft. I don’t even remember anything hurting at all or whiplash or nothing.

“I’m glad I’m going to be here in two weeks in a stock car.”

Note: As soon as the race was over, Angelelli was taken to a local hospital for observation and evaluation. Specific information about his condition was not available, other than that Angelelli was “conscious and stable.”

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The North American professional racing season kicked off Saturday afternoon when the green flag dropped on the 54th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the twice-around-the-clock endurance race featuring four classes of cars in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

Six hours in, and the race was startlingly dramatic, with massive problems for the highest-profile entries, the two Ford GTs. This was the first outing for the factory-backed cars, which were built to honor the Ford GT’s victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 50 years ago, something Ford hoped to duplicate at the race in mid-June. The Rolex 24 At Daytona was intended to be a shakedown for the two Ford GTs, which have been remarkably reliable in testing, but, as motorsports veterans say, testing isn’t racing.

The No. 67 Ford GT suffered an electrical problem that locked it into sixth gear less than 30 minutes into the race, while a similar electrical gremlin locked the No. 66 into first gear later in the afternoon. There also was a problem with flat tires that was similarly difficult to explain.

“We did log a lot of miles in testing, and we didn’t have a lot of problems,” said Joey Hand, co-driver of the No. 66. The good news: Hand took his Ford GT to the class lead before problems occurred, so when the car was running properly, it was fast. The team’s plan was to log as many miles as possible, and learn what they could before the next race, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in Central Florida.

The other big surprise was the arrow-shaped DeltaWing, which — with its ultra-narrow front end — looked unlike any other car out there: Driver Katherine Legge drove the DeltaWing to the overall lead, and it looked as though the star-crossed design might finally score a solid finish, and maybe a win.

But as night began to fall, one of the Prototype Challenge cars spun in a corner, and DeltaWing driver Andy Meyrick — who took over for Legge — ran into it, tearing the nose off the car. Repair work continued, but the fairy tale that would have been a DeltaWing win was over for now.

All that aside, it was a reasonably typical Rolex 24, run under clear skies after a wet few days of pre-race practice.  At the six-hour mark, NASCAR racer AJ Allmendinger, a past Rolex 24 winner in the Michael Shank Racing No. 60 Honda Ligier, made the most of his guest driver role by taking the lead over the No. 31 Action Express Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype driven by rookie Jonny Adam, who had never seen the 3.56-mile Daytona road course until the Roar Before the 24 practice earlier this month.

In the Prototype Challenge class, Jose Gutierrez led in his No. 52 Chevrolet-powered ORECA, while 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Nick Tandy was leading the GT Le Mans class in a Porsche 911 RSR. In the GT Daytona class, the largest of the four with 22 entries, Alessandro Balzan in the No. 63 Ferrari 458 GT3 was leading at the six-hour mark.

Fifty-four cars started, and the only thing that’s certain is that 54 cars won’t finish when the checkered flag flies Sunday afternoon.
FS2 airs the race until 10 p.m. ET Saturday, and overnight, IMSA.tv and the IMSA mobile app will live stream both video and commentary from 10 p.m.-7 a.m. This year’s coverage includes additional at-track and in-car cameras throughout the overnight hours.

Sunday, FS1 picks up the action at 7 a.m. and coverage shifts to FS2 at 10:30 a.m. before FS1 returns with complete coverage through the checkered flag at 2:40 p.m. and the Victory Lane celebration through 3 p.m.

Posted on by Holly Cain

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. —  Just before AJ Allmendinger‘s first driving stint in Saturday’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series veteran admitted a win in the Michael Shank Racing Honda would be as popular and sentimental as they come.

And it was his No. 60 Honda that was out front six hours into the twice-around-the-clock event at Daytona International Speedway.

While Allmendinger awaited his driving time Saturday evening, he spoke about the extra motivation for his team — honoring former driver Justin Wilson, who was killed competing in an IndyCar race last season.

Wilson co-drove with Allmendinger in this race five times, including 2012 when the dark horse Michael Shank team won the 50th running of the Rolex. Allmendinger and Wilson were close friends.

“When it comes to the competition side of it, everyone’s pumped up,” Allmendinger said before climbing into the car. “The series gave Honda a little more motor and they did their homework, it’s really fast. What’s different is Justin not being here.”

That was a meaningful and moving theme for Allmendinger, especially this weekend at a place he would normally be spending good times with his dear friend.

“We’re all pushing hard because we want to win it for Justin and in his memory,” Allmendinger said. “I was doing OK until this morning when Mike Shank put up a picture on Twitter.

“I knew it would be different, I knew it would be tough. But for me this is the race I always saw (Wilson) at.

“No matter if we were racing together … it was great to see his smiling face. It’s difficult now, but it gives us a little more reason to go out there and try to get it.”

Of the other three NASCAR drivers entered in the Rolex — Nationwide Series regular Brendan Gaughan and defending Rolex champions Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson — only McMurray had turned in any time behind the wheel. His Chip Ganassi Ford prototype was fourth overall even following a spin and a collision with a GTLM class Corvette on a restart.  

“It’s so hard on those restarts to predict how hard you can push,” McMurray said after climbing out of the Ganassi car. “Our car is better than I expected so we just have to get through the night.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Saturday afternoon’s Rolex 24 at Daytona starting grid was not only a huge mass of sports car fans, but a very respectful showing of NASCAR personnel eager to be a part of racing’s great annual season-opener at Daytona International Speedway.


NASCAR President Mike Helton took in the scene on pit road as did Sprint Cup driver Denny Hamlin, who at one point was set to drive in this year’s 24-hour event. Hamlin stopped by one of Chip Ganassi’s prototypes on pit road to speak with NASCAR drivers Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson — defending champions of the Rolex. Hamlin had surgery on Nov. 30 to repair damage to the ACL in his right knee.


“Never been to the race,” Hamlin said, smiling, shaking hands and greeting people up and down the starting grid.


“I definitely was planning on running this race, but unfortunately my knee didn’t heal in time to do it, so I have two extra weeks to keep working on it (in time for NASCAR’s portion of Speedweeks).”


RELATED: Hamlin hopes knee pain is ‘non-issue’ at Daytona


Hamlin, who drives the No. 11 FedEx Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, was almost as much a star attraction on the grid as were the cars and drivers. He acknowledged the event was on his bucket list and hoped to be able to make a start next year.


“The atmosphere is awesome and reminds me of a NASCAR race really,” Hamlin said. “Just seeing the whole grid and multiple drivers and it’s really more about the team than one individual driver though.”


“I’ve got to find out the best place to watch it.


“I still want to see the new Daytona project and I have my bus here,  parked in the infield so I’m just going to enjoy the weekend.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Clayton Hughes stood in the Daytona International Speedway garage Saturday morning looking and feeling a little in awe of the crowded, busy realm of onlookers and race teams readying to put cars on the starting grid for the Rolex 24 at Daytona.


In a couple of hours Hughes — whose full-time job is spotting for Martin Truex Jr. in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series — and his co-spotter for the team this weekend, Earl Barban — spotter for Jimmie Johnson — would be heading up to the track’s new spotter area to help guide the No. 912 Porsche around the 3.56-mile infield road course for the next two revolutions of the clock.


But as exciting as the experience was for the Rolex rookie Hughes, the most compelling element is that he was jumping into duty for his good friend, Chris Osborne, who spots for Matt Kenseth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and had planned to spot this weekend for the Porsche.


Osborne and his family were in a serious traffic accident before Christmas and while he is still healing, Osborne asked Hughes if he would fill-in on the spotter’s stand.

RELATED: Kenseth’s spotter gives update on family’s health

“I went to visit him in the hospital and he asked me if there was any way I could do him a huge favor,” Hughes recalled. “And of course, I said ‘yes.’ That’s the way we are in NASCAR, we’re a family. He asked me if I would come because this team wanted Cup spotters for the experience. I would never say no.”


The Rolex experience for Hughes has been full-on. A massively crowded garage and people driving golf carts and four-wheelers around spectators and dining tables was a full-sensory time to get used to.


“The cars and just the excitement and the people,” Hughes said stepping aside from a parade of golf carts whizzing through the paddock. “Obviously NASCAR has the best fans in the world, but this series is full of just nice people too.”


The GT-class No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR Hughes is guiding won the rainy qualifying session on Thursday and will start tops among class.


“I’m lucky on that one, we’re starting on the front row,” Hughes said. “The biggest advice everyone’s given me is ‘don’t freak out when you lose the car, because you’re going to lose it during the night.’


“My biggest thing is at night, I’m looking for a Duke-blue light on the roof,” he said smiling.


Another major adjustment he expects will be communicating with the eclectic group of drivers — Earl Bamber, of New Zealand, Michael Christensen, of Denmark and Frederic Makowiecki, of France. He is hopeful his Southern drawl will mesh with the international flavor of this cockpit.


“We just go with it,” Hughes said smiling. “You know, ‘he said, ’10-4.’ “


Hughes figures there may be at least 20 NASCAR spotters helping out this weekend at the Rolex 24 and there has been a very beneficial bonus for them all. The speedway is sporting a huge, new drivers stand area and for those here this weekend, it was first-come, first-serve.


“This is an experience I’m so glad I got to do,” Hughes said. “And for the NASCAR side, this is all new here and we got a brand new spotter’s stand and it’s like the whole length of the tower. We have room, we’re not standing on top of each other and I’ve actually already gotten my spot marked off for the Daytona 500.


“This whole week has been fun. This is awesome.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

Related: History of NASCAR drivers in Rolex 24

 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The great A.J. Foyt arrived at Daytona International Speedway Friday afternoon to join NASCAR driver Jamie McMurray in donating some memorabilia to the highly refurbished track.

 

Fans who gathered for the weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona did double takes as two of the speedway’s most decorated drivers walked through the concourse and prepared to donate keepsakes to be a part of the $400 million Daytona renovation debuting for the event.

 

The 2010 Daytona 500 winner McMurray talked, laughed and walked with the legend Foyt to a stage located inside the grandstands and adjacent to the checkered start/finish line.

 

“Versus any other race track in the world, it’s unbelieveable,” McMurray said of the track before revealing a large glass trophy case displaying McMurray’s race-winning Daytona 500 checkered flag and racing shoes from last year’s Rolex 24 victory — all to be on display in the facility’s new concourse.

 

But while Friday’s event was clearly intended to publicize the speedway’s makeover, the 81-year old Foyt commanded a presence all his own. Still walking with a limp after recovering from an extensive hospitalization and knee surgery last year, the Texan was very complimentary of the track’s new look.

 

He will wave the green flag to start Saturday’s twice-around-the-clock race.

 

“Just glad to be back; the Frances have always been so good to me and I don’t know of another speedway in the world that’s this nice and this beautiful,” the 1972 Daytona 500 winner said.

 

Foyt was clearly feeling good and glad to be back at a racetrack after missing the end of the 2015 IndyCar season dealing with health issues. Most evident, was his fondness for this particular track.

 

“I made up my mind I wasn’t going to walk with no cane. … you don’t realize at 81 years old you’d have to learn to walk again,” he said, smiling. “I’m getting there. Every day is a better day for me.”

 

Foyt enjoyed answering a few questions from the gathered reporters Friday afternoon, laughing, making jokes and sharing heartfelt responses.

 

He still fondly recalled his first start in the Rolex 24 in 1964 — he led the event’s first lap in what was then called the Daytona Continental — and how his father, who Foyt said “lay dying in a hospital” at the time, insisted he race in it instead of worriedly waiting in a hospital room.

 

“Daddy kind of got mad at me and said, ‘why don’t you go down there and have some fun,’ ” Foyt recalled with a smile.

 

The Texan didn’t win that year, but returned to win the Rolex twice in 1983 and 1985.

 

Foyt’s health was a recurring topic and there was clearly a lot of interest in the living legend. Smilingly obliging, the Texan relived his recent hospital stay and release.

 

“When I came to (the hospital), I kept playing with them,” Foyt said smiling.

 

“I’m about 99.9 percent healed up now. They kept telling me, ‘two months, two months’ and I looked at my doctor and said that ‘two months has just about been a year.’

 

“It’s been good though. I can’t holler about my life. I’ve had a wonderful life and raced about everywhere I could and won my share, and lost my share.”

 

And as the pauses grew and the questions dwindled, Foyt was asked if there was anything he would have done differently throughout his celebrated life.

 

“I wouldn’t change nothing,” he said and flashed a brilliant grin.