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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.

Posted on by Holly Cain

RELATED: History of NASCAR drivers in the Rolex 24

 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The list of NASCAR greats to hoist a trophy at Daytona’s famed Rolex 24 ranges from Hall of Famers such as Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte to stock car greats such as Mark Martin and includes Jamie McMurray, who after seven tries, won a champion’s Rolex last year to showcase along with his 2010 Daytona 500 trophy.

 

The late Dale Earnhardt competed just once finishing on the GT podium in his only try driving with his son Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2001, along with sports car veterans Andy Pilgrim and Kelly Collins.

 

AJ Allmendinger claimed a much-celebrated Rolex overall win in 2012, the 50th anniversary of the legendary race.

 

The very first full-time NASCAR driver to win overall? Casey Mears in 2006.

 

Through the history of this event full-time NASCAR drivers have been eager to give the Rolex 24 a try. And typically, found it as challenging and confounding as any week in a Sprint Cup Series’ competition.

 

McMurray, Allmendinger and third-year Cup driver Kyle Larson — who co-drove with McMurray to the 2015 Rolex overall win — will give the great endurance race another shot this weekend at the newly-unveiled, highly-celebrated, ultra-modernized Daytona International Speedway, which is fresh off a $400 million “re-imagining” renovation.

 

RELATED: Learn more about Daytona Rising project

 

The Russia-based prototype team and driver Mikhail Aleshin won the pole in the No. 37 BR01 Nissan and it will lead the 56-car field to green at 2:40 pm ET in the 54th Rolex 24 at Daytona — the first round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. 

 

“Looking forward to defending our win,” Larson said, smiling. “I think we’re a great team and great combo with (Scott) Dixon leading it and me on the tail. I’m hoping we can put together another full 24 hours here and get another watch.”

 

Larson is part of Chip Ganassi’s defending championship team this weekend co-driving again with McMurray, reigning IndyCar champion and another former Indianapolis 500 champion, Tony Kanaan.

 

The high-wattage, high-achieving lineup is matched by the anticipation of the series’ new cars and revised classes fighting it out among the best sports car racers in the world for an entire day.

 

And for much of the great history of this event, the sports car veterans ruled the road.

 

NASCAR champions such as Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart gave it their best but are collectively 0-for-12 in claiming a shiny new watch. Johnson came closest to adding a Rolex to his resume and his wrist after finishing second overall in both 2005 and 2008 — co-driving, in ’08, with sports car royalty Alex Gurney, Jon Fogarty and IndyCar champion Jimmy Vasser.

 

Stewart’s best finish was third in 2005 co-driving with sports car veterans Andy Wallace and Jan Lammers.

 

Danica Patrick and NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace have given this race a try too. Patrick finished eighth overall in 2009 with Mears on her team. Wallace’s only entry ended before the half-way mark. He was teamed with Patrick in 2006 and their car turned only 273 laps of 734 ultimately run. 

 

The race remains a crown sought by NASCAR’s best, who compete alongside those sports car talents in one of the most diverse, highly anticipated events on the calendar.

 

“I enjoy it, last year was fun and I think having all the drivers together, it’s really the only time of the year we’re all together,” Larson said, smiling. “Everyone’s telling stories. We all have dinner together. And to see everyone’s driving talent and share the vehicle is pretty cool.”

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR team owners Richard Childress and Chip Ganassi are among the seven members named to the Motorsports Hall of Fame Class of 2016.

 

Daytona International Speedway, which will house the Hall of Fame and its exhibits, tweeted the news Friday morning. Previously the Motorsports Hall of Fame was located in Detroit; its move to Daytona is part of the $400 million Daytona Rising reimagining of the “World Center of Racing.”

 

“This is a special honor to be recognized by the Motorsports Hall of Fame,” Childress said in a team release. “To be part of the first class inducted at the newly renovated Daytona International Speedway will be unique and the racers enshrined in this hall of fame are from across the entire motorsports world. I want to thank (Motorsports Hall of Fame President) Ron Watson and all of the Motorsports Hall of Fame’s board members for considering me for this prestigious award.”

 

Induction is scheduled for June 29 prior to the Coke Zero 400 race weekend.

 

Joining Childress and Ganassi are Everett Brashear (15-time AMA Grand National race winner), Gary Gabelich (‘Blue Flame’ driver), Dave McClelland (longtime drag racing announcer), Sam Posey (sports car racer and broadcaster) and Bob Sweikert (midget/sprint car driver).

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Earnhardt’s 2016 Nationwide paint scheme revealed

Nationwide Insurance, previously announced as the 2016 primary sponsor for Dale Earnhardt Jr., revealed Friday which races it would ride along with the No. 88 Chevrolet in 2016.

Earnhardt Jr. will debut the 2016 No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS at Daytona International Speedway for the season-opening Daytona 500. Nationwide will also adorn the car at the July Daytona race, as well as at Atlanta, Las Vegas, Auto Club, Martinsville, Texas, Bristol, Talladega, Dover, Charlotte, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Pocono, Darlington, Kansas and Phoenix for a total of 21 races. The organization will serve as an associate sponsor for the remainder of the schedule.

Nationwide teamed up with Earnhardt and Hendrick Motorsports in 2014 and is signed to a three-year partnership with the organization. Earnhardt ran the Nationwide paint scheme for 24 races in 2015, making three trips to Victory Lane in the scheme at Talladega, Daytona and Phoenix.

Posted on by Staff Report

Editor’s note: John Oates, part of legendary musical duo Hall & Oates, grew up racing and watching NASCAR. He still follows closely to this day. Below is his first-person account of his life behind the wheel, and his fandom. Follow John on Facebook here.

 

I became a racing fan in general as a young kid. Growing up in Pennsylvania, I didn’t know much about it, but at the same time one of my best friend’s father ran the hot dog concession at Hatfield Speedway, which was a quarter-mile dirt track. I saw Mario Andretti and Aldo Andretti when they were racing jalopies, basically, and midgets and sprint cars, so I used to go on Friday and Saturday nights under the lights for the dirt track racing.

 

As I got older and finally had some money to spend on it, I got myself a go-kart and joined the go-kart club in West Hampton, Long Island, did some national races, moved in to Formula Fords, SCCA racing and eventually some professional racing. Raced at Daytona in IMSA, the endurance series, back in the 80s. I was on the track with some of the great legendary drivers. The fact that I got to race at Daytona was an incredible experience. 

 

One of the highlights of my life, I was the grand marshal at Talladega when Bill Elliot qualified at over 210 miles per hour. It was the fastest NASCAR qualifying in history. And I’ll never forget this as long as I live. They came down on the starting lap and the wave of air that they were pushing, that field of cars at that speed was pushing, hit me about 200 yards before the cars even got close. They were pushing this incredible dirty hot air and it hit me and I never expected it. But I had a death grip on that green flag, so of course I waved the flag and the race went on.

 

Over the years I’ve taken my son and many friends to several NASCAR races. I actually went to the Buck Baker stock car school at Atlanta. I had come from sports car racing and in the class there was a bunch of guys with oval track experience, and I didn’t have that. So I got in the car, and I was really slow. So finally after a couple sessions I asked Buck if I could get a ride along with Randy (Baker). He took me around for a couple laps, and it was really instructional. And then I went out and I did real well. Later, Buck took me out for lunch at a barbecue joint and he told me that he could make a real race car driver out of me.  And I thought that was a pretty cool compliment.

 

John Oates, right, attended a driving school put on by Buck Baker and received quite the compliment. (Photo courtesy of John Oates)

Over the years as NASCAR’s become more popular and modernized, the racing now is so competitive. I follow all kinds of racing, there’s not a racing series on the planet that’s more competitive than NASCAR. When you look at the field and how a few tenths of a second separate 20 cars, it’s incredible. I have a great appreciation for it because I’ve been behind the wheel, I’ve competed and I understand what it means.

 

The drivers are good, they all have talent and have great equipment, so it really comes down to a mental game late in the season. I love the idea that the pressure ratchets up on every race. With the Chase format, it’s a unique situation because the pressure continues to build — handling pressure, that’s what racing is all about.

Posted on by Zack Albert

Given the sometimes fickle nature of team and sponsorship alignment, Casey Mears counts himself as one of the lucky ones. He enters his sixth full season with the Germain Racing No. 13 Chevrolet, with GEICO backing intact and a contract that will keep him in the fold through 2018.

With continuity and job security seemingly locked in, Mears and Co. can focus on the essentials — building speed and making incremental gains in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings.

“We all have common goals of getting better and getting stronger,” Mears said during last week’s Chevrolet portion of the preseason Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour. “If we don’t do that, things can always change in motorsports, but the thing it allows us to do is look internally at where we can get better. … From a driver’s standpoint, from a crew chief’s standpoint, a team standpoint — if you know there might possibly be change, it makes it easier to point the finger than go out and find the result, if that makes sense. …

“Now that we have these three years together, when there’s an issue or we’re not fast, we’re seeking an answer. We’re going to figure out how to make that work because we know these are the people we’re working with for the next three years. That’s where the positive thing is.”

Mears says the goals for 2016 are modest ones: an improvement on intermediate-sized tracks that make up the bulk of the Sprint Cup schedule, and a bump into the top 20 in the series standings after finishes of 23rd, 26th and 24th the previous three years.

One of the building blocks is the continuation of a technical alliance between the single-car Germain operation and Richard Childress Racing that began in 2014. Mears said the No. 13 team would continue to receive chassis, Earnhardt Childress Racing engines and technical support, while Germain will build its own car bodies.

An RCR technical alliance has proven to be a valuable asset for single-car teams in the past. Just last season, Childress-affiliated Furniture Row Racing pushed Martin Truex Jr. all the way to the championship round in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs, potentially stoking hopes for a similar postseason fate for Germain.

“It would be hard to really counter what Furniture Row did last year,” Mears said. “Quite honestly, they were the strongest team out of the organization and for one reason is, they have an extremely large budget, they were able to take what RCR offered and fine-tune it and do some things they thought would help on their own as well. We’re more in a position to where if we can equal what they’re doing or compete and beat some of these guys, we’ve done a really, really good job with what we’re getting. From our perspective, we’re drawing from those guys. We’re getting all we can from there.”

The Barney Visser-owned Furniture Row organization changed manufacturers in the offseason, forming a new alliance with Toyota stalwart Joe Gibbs Racing for 2016. With the No. 78 team leaving the Chevrolet fold, could the ripple effect could be a power vacuum within the RCR alliance?

“That remains to be seen,” Mears said. “Obviously, they were a good source of feedback and information last season, but I think RCR has an extremely talented group behind them and really talented drivers. I don’t see them really missing a beat there. We’ll know more as the season starts, but for sure, they were a value and they definitely brought something to the table.”

For now, Mears hopes staying power within the team — a relative rarity in modern stock-car racing — can pay off. Crew chief Bootie Barker also returns for a sixth consecutive season, aiming to help the team make strides with a new reduced-downforce aerodynamic package this year.

“The details are right, the playbook’s making sense,” Mears said. “We’re repeating things going back to tracks and starting there where we left off and gaining, getting better. That’s one thing I’m really looking forward to this year. Obviously, there’s a slight change in the rules, but outside of that, we have a really good history now to look back on and good places to start.”