The other Ganassi car also retired early (with engine woes) — the first time owner Chip Ganassi can remember that neither of his cars made it to the finish.

"It’s part of it, part of the game of racing — it’ll happen and now we’ll move on to the next race," said Ganassi, whose team had five wins and two runner-up finishes in the previous eight Rolex 24 races.

Larson and McMurray, teammates in Ganassi’s Sprint Cup, were tabbed to co-drive in the Rolex 24 with an all-star two-car team of IndyCar champs and sports car veterans. Larson, whose three Nationwide Series road course races last season were the extent of his road course experience, finished 15th overall. McMurray finished 43rd in his sixth Rolex start.

"I honestly still don’t know what exactly happened, when I woke up at 4:30 or so this morning to come get back in the car, I noticed we were quite a few laps down," said McMurray, whose best finish is runner-up in 2011. "I know we got into the wall, had some starter issues. But I got back in and did my two and a half, three hours and I got out, took a shower and now I’m back to just hang out.

"It’s really disappointing, but that’s what I think makes this race so great if you can finish it. It’s extremely hard to do. I’ve had a really good time."

JTG Daugherty driver Allmendinger, the 2012 Rolex 24 overall winner, finished 47th overall, his No. 60 Michael Shank Racing prototype suffering from mechanical problems.

But while the current NASCAR drivers were shut out — only the second time since 2006 there were no full-time NASCAR drivers on the podium — the overall winning Chevrolet prototype did have several NASCAR connections.

Former NASCAR executive Gary Nelson is the team manager of Action Express Racing, and former NASCAR driver Elton Sawyer is the director of competition. And the team uses Earnhardt Childress Racing (ECR) Chevy engines, something team owner Bob Johnson credited with being a difference-maker.

The sport was also represented in Victory Lane by British sports car driver Nick Tandy, who considers himself a huge fan of American stock car racing.

Tandy, who won the GT LeMans class in the Rolex 24, said he watches every Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series race and has for years.

He grew up a big Dale Earnhardt fan and is now appreciative of Kyle Busch’s talent.

"It was so cool when I got the chance to come here and race in Daytona because I’ve been such a fan for 20-odd years," Tandy said "I haven’t missed a race on TV in years, and I mean all 36 races each season. I’m a huge fan."

"Everyone has something they are passionate about and not that I’m not passionate about my own racing, but as a sports fan, NASCAR is kind of my game."

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2014 Driver Lineup

Casey Mears, No. 13 Chevrolet
 
After eight top-20 finishes in the first 18 races, Mears struggled in the second half of the season, cracking the top 20 only one more time. He finished 24th in points, however, a five-position improvement from 2012. Bootie Barker returns as crew chief and that continuity along with a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing — where Mears worked in 2009 — has already produced encouraging results. The team was sixth quickest overall during the January Daytona test and fastest of the single car runs.
 
2014 Outlook
 
Joining Furniture Row and JTG Daugherty in a technical alliance with RCR creates a support system that should benefit this single-car Germain team. Mears, who won the 2007 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte while driving for Hendrick Motorsports, has proven himself top-10 caliber in past years, and this new partnership with RCR should pay off sooner rather than later.

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2014 Driver Lineup

AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 Chevrolet
 
The team essentially got a full makeover for the 2014 season, from hiring Allmendinger, to switching from Toyota to Chevrolet, to forming a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing. This will be the first full-time Cup job for Allmendinger since 2012, as he replaces 2000 Cup champ Bobby Labonte, who drove for the team since 2011 with a best showing of fourth place in the 2011 Daytona 500. Allmendinger earned the new position after a solid nine races for the team late last year, highlighted by a 10th-place finish at Watkins Glen, N.Y. — the team’s only top-10 of the year.
 
2014 Outlook
 
Allmendinger thinks his situation is a perfect storm of opportunity. He’s grateful and eager to be back full-time in Sprint Cup, and the team hopes he will lead the organization to the next level of competition and contend for race wins. The technical alliance at RCR, which includes engines and engineering support from Earnhardt-Childress Racing, was a huge show of financial commitment and competitive intention for Allmendinger, who says now it’s time to do his part. The question is how long will it take to see the results.

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2014 Driver Lineup

Tony Stewart, No. 14 Chevrolet; Danica Patrick, No. 10 Chevrolet;  Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Chevrolet; Kurt Busch, No. 41 Chevrolet.
 
Stewart is hoping to get medical clearance to race in time for The Sprint Unlimited non-points race during Daytona Speedweeks. However, the three-time champ has cautioned he won’t be completely back to form in the early portion of the season. Last year he and the whole SHR organization got off to a slow start figuring out the new Gen-6 car. But he had just turned the corner — winning at Dover and finishing runner-up in the summer Daytona race in the weeks before his injury. Chad Johnston, who worked previously with driver Martin Truex Jr., will be Stewart’s new crew chief, replacing Steve Addington.
 
Patrick started her rookie campaign in historic fashion, becoming the first woman to win the Daytona 500 pole. However, her eighth-place finish in the race was her only top-10 in a season of expected hard knocks and learning curves. She considers her 12th place at Martinsville, Va., to be a highlight as well, considering the difficulty of that race. She will benefit from the continuity of working with the veteran Gibson again, who, like Patrick and team owner Stewart, is committed to keeping expectations realistic even as they raise for her second full season.
 
Harvick disproved any lame duck conspiracy theories by turning in a high-performing final year at Richard Childress Racing in 2013 after a 13-year tenure with the team. He won four races, including two in the Chase, and was in contention for the Sprint Cup championship right up to the final race in Homestead, Fla. He ultimately finished third behind Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth and comes to SHR motivated and eager to take the next step in his career and finally hoist the Cup. He will be working with crew chief Rodney Childers, who, like Johnston, comes from Michael Waltrip Racing.
 
Busch completes the all-star lineup and, as with Harvick, comes to SHR fresh off a high-achieving, head-turning season. The 2004 Cup champ all but promised to land the small Denver-based No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team in its first Chase, and midway through the schedule, it was apparent, he would make good on that. Although he didn’t win a race, he scored 11 top-five finishes with season best runner-up finishes at Richmond, Va., and Kansas. He finished 10th in points, scoring only three top-10s in the 10 Chase races. He’ll be paired with crew chief Daniel Knost.
 
2014 Outlook
 
This team has high-wattage personality to match its talent level. And that is a key unknown variable when it comes to how the team will perform with essentially four "lead" drivers.
 
How will Stewart race after recovering from such a serious injury? Will Patrick show marked improvement, even win a race? How long will it take Harvick and Busch to feel at home with their new team? And how will all the new crew chief combinations pan out?

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2014 Driver Lineup

Michael McDowell, No. 95 Ford.

The Leavine team has pegged McDowell for duty as the team’s only driver for its 20-race schedule. McDowell logged a pair of highlights in 2013, first opening the season with a ninth-place finish — his first career top-10 — for team owner Mike Curb, then winning the pole and finishing second while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in the inaugural NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Mid-Ohio.

Wally Rogers, who has six victories in his veteran career as a Nationwide Series crew chief, returns atop the pit box for the No. 95 Ford, which will continue to use engines from the Roush Yates operation. The team, which debuted in 2011, has roots in Tyler, Texas — evident from its Lone Star State-themed logo — but operates from a shop in Concord, N.C.

2014 Outlook

McDowell, 29, got his first taste of driving for Leavine Family Racing during the Sprint Showdown qualifier for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race last May. He apparently showed enough spark to lock into every race on the No. 95 team’s schedule this season.

The race-to-race continuity should help driver and team build chemistry through the season, but running a part-time schedule places a premium on finding performance in qualifying. LFR failed to qualify for two Sprint Cup starts last year.

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2014 Driver Lineup

Trevor Bayne, No. 21 Ford.

Bayne, 22, returns for a part-time Sprint Cup role with the Wood Brothers in addition to his full-time duties in the NASCAR Nationwide Series with Roush Fenway Racing, which helps the Wood team through a partnership that dates back to 1998. Bayne entered 12 Sprint Cup events for the Wood Brothers in 2013, down four races from 2012.

Bayne said in preseason testing that the team again plans a 12-race schedule with funding from longtime sponsors Motorcraft and Quick Lane. Bayne indicated that if additional sponsorship materialized, an 18- to 20-race slate "would be our perfect scenario."

2014 Outlook

The Wood Brothers’ familiar No. 21 Ford has been a stock-car racing staple since NASCAR’s earliest days. Though the team hasn’t regularly competed for wins in some time, Bayne has given the Woods glimmers of its past glory on occasion, notching a pair of top-10 finishes in its limited schedule in 2012.

Four of the team’s 12 starts last year came on restrictor-plate tracks Daytona and Talladega, where the playing field is often leveled for part-time or lesser-funded teams. A similar schedule this year could mean more glimpses of promise for Bayne and the No. 21.

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