NASCAR Fantasy Live is now open for entry and league creation, inviting both returning and new players to get in on the online excitement. Players must log into their accounts on the NASCAR website or through the NASCAR Mobile App and can start setting their lineups for the Daytona 500 on Feb. 11.
Additionally, you can earn 10 Fan Rewards points each time you set your lineup in NASCAR Fantasy Live. With Fan Rewards points, you can earn exclusive prizes such as race tickets, NASCAR merchandise and more; sign up for Fan Rewards here. If you are a Fan Rewards member and the driver in your lineup wins the Daytona 500, you will earn 500 bonus Fan Rewards points.
Rules for the 2025 season echo those of previous years. Players will be tasked with selecting five drivers to comprise their weekly lineup, with an additional sixth driver placed in their garage. The routine of making picks opens every Tuesday. Players can insert their garage driver into their lineups up until the conclusion of Stage 2 each race. Once the final race stage kicks off, the five-driver lineup you have set will be locked, and the performance of each chosen driver will determine the final scoring.
A few critical rules to keep in mind during the season is that participants can utilize a particular driver up to 10 times during the 26-race regular season. What happens if you max your driver use before the playoffs? Well, there’s no need to fear. Once the playoffs get underway in August at Darlington Raceway, driver usage will reset, offering an additional five uses for any driver for the final 10 races.
But wait, the fun doesn’t stop there. Head-to-head matchups will return for the 2025 season. Choose between the two provided drivers on which one you think will finish higher in the race; choose the correct one, and you will receive 10 more bonus points.
Each driver can earn up to 60 points on a race weekend, similar to NASCAR’s official point system. Drivers who place within the top 10 at the stage breaks will be the only ones to receive bonus points, with the stage winner being awarded 10 points all the way down to the 10th-place finisher being awarded one point. If a driver in your lineup manages to win the race, NASCAR Fantasy Live will grant you 40 points. Official points won’t be handed out until the post-race inspection is complete approximately two hours after the race ends and the finishing order is confirmed. In the unfortunate event that one of your drivers fails post-race inspection, NASCAR Fantasy Live will resemble the points.
What are the stakes? If you have what it takes to score the most points for the Daytona 500 opener, you can earn a $10,000 reward. Looking beyond the “Great American Race,” the player who accumulates the most points over the full 36-race schedule will secure a substantial $25,000 prize. The runner-up will take home $10,000 and $5,000 will be awarded to the third-place finisher.
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — Rockingham Speedway roared back to life this week with the sound of engines echoing through the Richmond County plains and sandhills. NASCAR’s first full-fledged test session for Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series teams turned out to be an eye-opener, with drivers discovering a fast track, talk about the resurrection of a historic venue and a community that’s happily welcoming the return.
Tuesday’s organizational test marked a prelude for both circuits’ springtime events at the 1.017-mile track, which will reopen for NASCAR business with an April 18-19 race weekend. Competition officials extended the session to a second day Wednesday, reaching that decision after a damp track and drying efforts delayed Tuesday morning’s activity.
It’s an extra day to soak in the history of a facility that’s been hosting stock-car events since the mid-1960s.
“I feel like you’d be missing out if you didn’t get that feeling,” said Daniel Hemric, who returns to the Truck Series full-time this year for McAnally Hilgemann Racing. “I mean … my grandparents, they talked about racing, and this is a place that they came and watched races at as they became fans of the sport many, many years before I was even thought of. So it’s cool to be able to come here and experience some of what they got to live through.”
Rockingham Speedway has undergone significant upgrades after multiple developments in the track’s recent timeline. The facility was purchased by a Raleigh-based investment group in 2018, and the track received state funds intended to revitalize North Carolina’s motorsports industry in 2021. Infrastructure and safety enhancements followed, and new asphalt was placed in a 2022 repaving project.
No official test speeds were released Tuesday, but some of the early driver feedback from the resurfacing was positive. Corey Heim was among those noting the pavement’s character, plus some encouraging early signs of a widening groove in the high-banked turns.
“It’s definitely fast,” said Heim, prepping for his third full season with Tricon Garage. “I think that’s the first thing everyone realized after the track drying and we got some laps on it. Very little amount of break, and like I said, it’s quick. So I thought everyone got up to speed pretty quick. It seems like the differences between (lap) times are all pretty close within the top 20-ish, so I think everyone kind of expected it to be one groove, but it seems to be moving up a little bit in (turns) one and two already, which is promising.”
Even with the improvements, the Rockingham track still retains its old-school feel. Craftsman Truck Series teams set up camp in an open-air garage area closer to Turn 1, and Xfinity Series teams milled about the cozy garage that had hosted the Cup Series until its final race here in 2004.
The Rockingham track would aspire to emulate the rise from the ashes that’s happened with North Wilkesboro Speedway, two and a half hours to the northeast. The Wilkes County facility had mostly sat dormant after a long run of hosting Cup Series events from 1949-1996, but the same government incentive program that provided Rockingham with aid also helped give the North Wilkesboro track a lifeline.
North Wilkesboro — reborn and modernized, but with its heritage thoughtfully left intact — will host the NASCAR All-Star Race for the third straight year in 2025. That history — both at Rockingham and Wilkesboro — hasn’t been lost on the newer generation of stars in those series.
“I think it’s a matter of going back to your roots,” said Spire Motorsports’ Rajah Caruth, a 22-year-old driver who was just shy of his second birthday when Cup last raced at ‘The Rock.’ “I think you see it with Wilkesboro and then having NASCAR’s presence in the CARS Tour and going to places like Florence and Hickory and joints like that. So I think it’s imperative, right? I think it’s twofold. It’s important, in my opinion, to be out in places like Southern California and Vegas and Phoenix out there, but you can’t forget where you’ve come from. So to be here at Rockingham, to come back to Wilkesboro, and be kind of at these homegrown places where really the sport grew its roots, I think it’s important. So it’s great to be back.”
How long NASCAR will be back will at least partly depend on the race weekend’s reception. The track has already made a strong effort toward spreading the word, with billboards and signs dotting the nearby town and surrounding countryside, declaring that”The Rock” is back.
A respectable number of fans took advantage of the free admission to Tuesday’s test to gather and watch on a chilly but sunny day from the Turn 4 grandstands. Filling the bleachers come April would mark a significant step toward sustaining Rockingham’s rebirth.
“To be honest with you, our race fans — our diehard race fans — they crave the history and the nostalgia of our sport, right? They always have,” said defending Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier. “We hear it all the time, whether it be moving numbers around or race tracks that we go to, our car styles. Our fans really gravitate toward the history of our sport, and this is one piece of that puzzle. We have a ton of fans that have shown up today just to sit in the grandstands and watch and hang out. But that being said, when we come back here and race, we’re going to have to have that same energy and participation from our fans if they want to see this on the schedule, right?
“I would say that it doesn’t happen very often that race tracks come back onto the schedule after they’ve taken a hiatus, and we have a really, really good race track here that needs to stay on the schedule. So we need the fans to support it. I feel like the teams and the drivers have all bought in and want to be here, so I hope that we get the same support from the fans, and so far, that seems to be the case.”
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — Kasey Kahne drove to the infield tunnel at Rockingham Speedway, and sure enough, his NASCAR 75 Greatest Drivers credential still worked. “Super simple,” the 44-year-old veteran said, his access for preseason testing granted.
Kahne made the rounds, taking a tour around the infield Tuesday morning while the 1.017-mile track was being prepped. He’ll be making his first NASCAR national-series start since 2018 when the Xfinity Series returns to Rockingham in the spring, but being back in a stock-car garage didn’t seem like a long time gone.
“A lot of familiar faces. It didn’t feel like I hadn’t been here in six years, I know that,” Kahne said from Rockingham’s media center. “Even just hanging out in the trailer, behind the trailer for the first half-hour, hour this morning waiting to get going, it just felt pretty normal. It didn’t feel too different. So I guess when you put basically your whole life into just racing and NASCAR for that many years leading up to it, and then 16 years in the sport, to take a little bit of time off and come back, it still feels pretty familiar.”
Kahne and the rest of the Xfinity Series roster will be back for the N.C. Education Lottery 250 on April 19 (4 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), marking NASCAR’s first national-tour event since 2013. Xfinity teams will share the weekend with the Craftsman Truck Series, which will run the Black’s Tire 200 on April 18 (5 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The two series alternated 45-minute practice sessions during Tuesday’s organizational test, which will spill into Wednesday because of track drying needs that scrubbed testing time in the morning.
Kahne was a winner during Rockingham’s brief, two-year revival nearly a decade ago, prevailing in the Truck Series’ return race here in 2012. He’s kept his hand in racing since his most recent NASCAR start, running a successful sprint car team and increasing his participation on the driving side. He said he’s kept in touch with some of his contacts from the NASCAR world, and the Rockingham date on the 2025 schedule piqued his interest in finding a ride.
That opportunity came through with last week’s announcement that Kahne will drive the No. 33 Chevrolet, a third Richard Childress Racing entry, in the 250-lap event.
“I saw this Rockingham race pop up, and I was like, ‘Man, that’s a track I know, and I’ve enjoyed racing at over the years,’ so I started reaching out and trying to figure a way to get back into it and do a race,” Kahne said. “It felt like four or five years maybe since I’d raced, and it’s more like six and a half is what they’d said, so it’s been a while.”
His departure from the Cup Series roster felt abrupt, coming midstream with 11 races left in the 2018 campaign. But Kahne said the demands of racing at the big-league level of NASCAR each week had taken a gradual, physical toll that mounted as his final season crept along.
“The reason it was time was my body was just telling me it was time,” said Kahne, who won 18 times in a Cup Series career that began in 2004. “My dehydration was so bad by the time I got to the center part of the year. I mean, the last few Cup races I ran, yeah, it was as bad as I’ve ever felt in my life. After the races for the next two or three days, even into the next race, we just couldn’t figure it out, couldn’t get it fixed. It was a mess. It wasn’t a very good way to end. It wasn’t what I was wanting or expecting, but it was the way it went. Just kind of had a short, quick ending to my Cup run. I’ve watched a lot since, and I’m just glad to get an opportunity to do this race in April.”
What’s yet to be seen is if Kahne’s Rockingham go is a one-off. Asked if another opportunity at the Cup Series or another NASCAR level might be in the cards, Kahne hedged, keeping the focus on the reborn 1-mile track in front of him.
“I have no idea. I just want to do this one race, work with this group,” Kahne said. “It’s been actually really cool, and went together really quick, but they’ve given me a great opportunity and a lot of really good people at RCR. So I’ve really enjoyed it to this point, finish off this test and see where that is, do the race and see how things are going at that point in time.”
This season marks the second of NASCAR’s seven-year media rights agreements for the NASCAR Cup Series with four best-in-class distribution partners — FOX Sports, NBC Sports, Amazon’s Prime Video and TNT Sports.
Here’s a breakdown of how to watch NASCAR races on NBC, USA Network, Peacock and the NBC Sports App in 2026.
NBC starts its coverage on Aug. 9 at Iowa Speedway and will run for 14 weeks through the Cup Series championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 8.
Four races will appear on NBC and simulcast on Peacock — Daytona International Speedway (Aug. 29), Talladega Superspeedway (Oct. 25), Martinsville Speedway (Nov. 1) and Homestead-Miami (Nov. 8). The remaining 10 races will air on USA Network.
Additionally, all NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races will be broadcast by The CW. Cup Series practice and qualifying during NBC’s portion of the schedule can still be found on Max and truTV. Xfinity sessions will air on The CW, and FOX Sports will continue to broadcast practice and qualifying for the Craftsman Truck Series.
How can I find USA Network?
AT&T U-verse HD: Channel 1125 Charter Spectrum HD: Channel 760 Comcast XFINITY TV HD: Channel 823 Cox Communication HD: Channel 1028 DIRECTV HD: Channel 242 DISH Network HD: Channel 105 Time Warner Cable HD: Channel 55, 101 Verizon FiOS: Channel 550
What about live streaming? USA Network is also available on most streaming services, including:
• fuboTV • YouTubeTV • Sling TV (blue package) • Hulu + Live TV • DirecTV Stream
How to watch on NBC Sports App: To access live streams, you can either visit NBC.com or download the NBC Sports app and authenticate by using your cable, satellite or streaming provider’s login credentials. There is no additional fee for this service; simply log in using the username and password associated with your provider’s website.
How to watch on Peacock TV: Go to https://www.peacocktv.com/ and pick a plan starting as low as $7.99 per month. This will give you access to live sports on Peacock, so for the four Cup races that are simulcast on Peacock, you will be able to watch with your Peacock subscription from your preferred device.
*1st place monies includes the $3,500 Special Award Whelen Engineering “Winner of the Race” award paid to winning driver.
Total: $116,000
1st-$15,875
2nd-$6,188
3rd-$4,641
4th-$4,180
5th-$4,091
6th-$4,003
7th-$3,914
8th-$3,826
9th-$3,738
10th-$3,649
11th-$3,561
12th-$3,472
13th-$3,384
14th-$3,296
15th-$3,207
16th-$3,119
17th-$3,030
18th-$2,942
19th-$2,854
20th-$2,765
21st-$2,677
22nd-$2,588
23rd-$2,500
24th-$2,500
25th-$2,500
26th-$2,500
27th-$2,500
28th-$2,500
29th-$2,500
30th-$2,500
31st-$2,500
32nd-$2,500
QUALIFYING AND SPECIAL AWARDS
$1,150 Hoosier Tire “Pole Award” per event award to the eligible driver with the fastest qualifying time eligible to participate under the Manufacturers’ Prize Money Conditions.
$1,000 Hoosier Tire “Hard Charger” per event award to the highest finishing eligible driver who advances the most positions from the start of the race to the end of the race. In the case of a tie, the highest finishing driver will receive the award.
$550 Sunoco Spec Fuel per race award divided: 1st-$300 5th-$150 10th-$100
$400 Phil Kurze “Halfway Leader” Award presented by Josten’s per event award to the race leader at the halfway point of the event, regardless if the race is running under green or yellow.
One set of Hoosier Racing Tires – Product Award valued at $1,000 to be awarded as follows: At the conclusion of the event, the race winner will draw a pill to randomly select which finishing position of 10th through 25th will win this award.
One set of Hoosier Racing Tires – Product Award valued at $1,000 to be awarded to the highest finishing new team participating in the race. New team is defined as a new Car Owner to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour or a Car Owner who has not participated during the past three (3) seasons of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. If there are no new teams that qualify for this award, a second pill will be drawn, by the race winner, and the tires will be awarded to a team that finishes between 10th and 25th positions.
NASCAR officials signaled Monday during a competition briefing that the sanctioning body will consider making changes to its playoff format for the 2026 season.
No changes are imminent for the 2025 campaign, which is set to begin with the exhibition Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium on Sunday (8 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). However, the structure of the postseason could take on another shape in 2026.
“I don’t think we want to get in the habit of making small little tweaks every season to the playoffs,” John Probst, NASCAR’s executive vice president, chief racing development officer, said. “Where we landed was for 2025 not making any changes to the playoffs. Throughout the course of this year, we will get a working group together with some media folks, OEMs, Goodyear, drivers. … We probably talked to most of the folks one-on-one about, where are we at? What are we thinking?
“Basically, we look at that as a workstream for a group of our stakeholders this year, to look at it holistically.”
Discussions arose throughout the 2024 postseason regarding eligible contenders for the championship, with eventual champion Joey Logano defending the format following his triumph at Phoenix Raceway in November.
“The playoffs were meant to create those moments, which I feel like they did,” Probst said. “And on the other hand, there’s the fan feedback — which we hear loud and clear — on this particular driver should have been here, or that particular driver won this many races, so he should have been automatically in and all of that.”
Probst said officials heard from three schools of thought — one that loves the playoffs, one that hates them and one fell in the middle — enjoying the playoffs, wanting to fix them, but an overriding uncertainty of what there is to fix.
“We just didn’t get to a point where we felt like we have to do it,” Probst said. “But we hear the fans loud and clear and are looking at it actively.”
No definitive change has been suggested, nor are any alterations guaranteed for the 2026 season. But the sanctioning body will look to gather an industry-wide committee to determine what changes could be made, if any, ahead of the 2026 season, seeking opinions from drivers, teams, manufacturers, media and officials.
In a November state-of-the-sport address, NASCAR president Steve Phelps said: “We are always looking if there are opportunities for us to tweak something.”
“We’re not going to go away from playoffs,” added Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s chief operations officer. “We’ll absolutely look at what form the playoffs take in the offseason. You always learn. … But playoffs in and of itself, as Steve said, you cannot argue with the quality of racing that the playoffs have delivered. You can talk about the format if we do some different things, but absolutely we’re going to stick with it.”
The current 16-driver, four-round elimination format that determines the NASCAR Cup Series champion has been in place since 2014. The last significant change to the format came in 2017 with the introduction of stage racing and playoff points. Playoff points accrued for race wins and stage victories — plus those awarded to the top 10 drivers at the conclusion of the regular season — provide additional cushion to championship contenders through each of the first three rounds of the playoffs.
The four drivers left competing for the title in the season finale engage in a winner-take-all event, with the highest-finishing driver of the quartet earning the championship. The Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series have used a similar format since 2016.
An organizational test is scheduled for Tuesday for the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series, with both circuits preparing for their springtime return to Rockingham Speedway.
The test is set for 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET. Fans will be admitted free to watch test-day activity from the Turn 4 grandstands.
The tune-up time comes as a prelude to the April 18-19 race weekend for Xfinity and Truck Series teams, which will share the card at the 1.017-mile track with the ARCA Menards Series East. The Truck Series will hold a 200-lapper Friday, April 18 (5 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), followed by the Xfinity Series’ 250-lap event on Saturday, April 19 (4 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The Xfinity Series will race at Rockingham for the first time since 2004, the last year that the facility hosted Cup Series events. The Truck Series will be back for the first time since 2013.
“We’re excited to see cars and trucks on the track and to let race fans catch a glimpse of what they can expect when NASCAR returns to Rockingham Easter weekend,” said Bob Sargent, president of speedway promotion group Track Enterprises. “This will be the first opportunity of the new year for a lot of these teams to work together before they head for Speedweeks in Daytona, so not only is this test important to our team, it’s equally important to all the race teams that will be here. It’s a unique situation so we’re thrilled to see them get some preseason work in at the Rock.”
The one-day test is also expected to mark a return for former Cup Series standout Kasey Kahne, who was announced Friday as the driver of Richard Childress Racing’s No. 33 Chevrolet for the April 19 Xfinity event. Kahne, 44, will be making his first NASCAR start since 2018. He was named as one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers in 2023.
Rockingham has undergone significant renovations since NASCAR’s last visit, including a repaving project in 2022. The track was included in a 2021 bill introduced by then-North Carolina governor Roy Cooper that allocated funding to revitalize speedway venues in the state.
Corey LaJoie had multiple options on the table for the upcoming 2025 NASCAR season. Ultimately, he chose a path that will put him in new territory.
LaJoie will compete in a limited Cup Series schedule for Rick Ware Racing, piloting the No. 01 Ford in 2025 while creating the Stacking Pennies Performance Brand. He will also serve as a race analyst for Prime Video’s five Cup Series races, beginning on Memorial Day Weekend for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and concluding June 22 at Pocono Raceway.
“The Amazon piece is one of the reasons why this year is going to look a little bit different,” LaJoie told NASCAR.com. “When those guys were pursuing me towards the end of last year, I felt like there were things that were materializing in my life and doors that were opening from the Lord to allow me to see that there are other things that I can do outside of being a full-time Cup driver.
“My entire racing life, since I was 7 years old, I’ve been blindly focused on being a competitive race-winning Cup Series driver. I’ve worked and leveraged and did everything with that clear vision in mind. The way this past year went and the way my cards were dealt of not being in the right system at the right time, you can always Monday morning quarterback it because hindsight is always 20/20 as far as what you would change. But I think everything happened for a reason with the way my career had gone up to this point.”
With seven races remaining in the 2024 season, Spire Motorsports and RWR made an in-season trade that saw Justin Haley take over the No. 7 car, the seat LaJoie had piloted for nearly four years. LaJoie replaced Haley in the No. 51 Ford, but RWR announced in mid-January that Cody Ware would run the full 2025 campaign for the family-run operation. The team is leasing its second charter to RFK Racing in 2025, meaning RWR’s second car is an open entry and must qualify on time for races.
After he tied the best finish (fourth) of his Cup career in the season-opening Daytona 500, LaJoie experienced a 2024 slump that saw him in dust-ups with multiple Cup champions, including Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson. He got back on track late in the summer, scoring top-10 finishes at Darlington Raceway and Watkins Glen International, where all three Spire cars cracked the top 10 for the first time in team history.
For 2025, LaJoie also didn’t want to get in the way of team owner Rick Ware putting Cody full-time in the No. 51 Ford. After leaving a discussion with Ware, he went into a meeting with the head of talent at Amazon and confirmed he wasn’t going to drive the full season. LaJoie was hired after one interview.
“With the Amazon guys knocking on my door and I had fallen out of love with the sport a bit and became disenchanted with the sport, I was looking for ways to love it again,” LaJoie said. “I’ve never not liked it; it’s kind of like a marriage. There are days where you don’t like each other, but you always love each other, and that’s how my last 16 months of my career have been.”
In launching the Stacking Pennies Performance Brand, LaJoie sought after driving the No. 01 car to distance himself from anything that involved the No. 7. The value of a penny is 1 cent.
The idea of creating the Stacking Pennies Performance Brand stemmed from LaJoie’s “Stacking Pennies Podcast,” which is among NASCAR’s most popular podcasts. The idea is akin to Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91, which will include merchandise and social media content.
“For me, it’s a proof of concept of the branding and how we want to treat our partners, how our cars look and bringing people to the race track,” LaJoie said.
LaJoie understands he could be the modern-day Neil Bonnett, who was frequently in the media landscape while competing. His first time in the No. 01 will be this year’s Daytona 500 attempt (Feb. 16, FOX, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), a race in which he has three top-10 finishes in the last five contests. LaJoie will be sponsored by DuraMAX and Take 5 Oil Change during the event.
While LaJoie is focused on happiness and being the best at his multiple roles this season, he knows that once the season shifts into high gear, it might get tough.
“It doesn’t surprise me that my career isn’t what I thought it was going to be,” LaJoie said. “I envisioned being wheel to wheel with those guys a decade ago, and those guys got in the system, evolved and developed and became champions. I’ve had to just play the cards that I was dealt. Sometimes, I didn’t play them very well. I’m man enough to admit that. When you have a year as [expletive] as we did last year, you’re going to get fired. I wish there were some things that we could have changed internally before we cut off the snake.
“The last three months have been like a faith walk. I’m not sure where the destination is going to be, but the short-term destination is going to be the Daytona 500 with an 01 Stacking Pennies Performance Ford Mustang.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect the penalization of the No. 8 LMP2 entry.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – History was made on several levels in the 63rd Rolex 24 At Daytona to kick off the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.
Porsche Penske Motorsport won its second consecutive Rolex 24, the third overall for team owner Roger Penske and fourth for the team, with the No. 7 Porsche 963 driven by Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor claiming the overall and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class triumph.
Nasr is the only member of the trio who was part of last year’s winning entry, with a reshuffled lineup. Tandy moved from the team’s No. 6 car, and with the win is the first driver globally to have won all four major 24-hour endurance sports car races in Daytona, Le Mans, Spa-Francorchamps and the Nürburgring overall. Vanthoor was part of last year’s FIA World Endurance Championship-winning lineup with Penske.
The win is Nasr’s third (2024 in GTP/overall, 2022 in Grand Touring Daytona Pro), Tandy’s second (2014 GT Le Mans) and Vanthoor’s first at the Rolex 24.
The team nearly completed a 1-2 sweep, but a late pass by Tom Blomqvist delivered his second straight runner-up finish. Blomqvist co-drove the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06, and got around Matt Campbell’s No. 6 Porsche 963.
“It’s amazing to see the work we’ve done with this Porsche program the last couple years, winning the (IMSA) championship last year, and with the relationship we have with Porsche, our organization, I’m thrilled,” Roger Penske said in Victory Lane. “It was quite something there at the end!”
History was also made in the two Grand Touring classes, as two iconic brands – Mustang and Corvette – both won.
Ford’s newest Mustang scored its first IMSA victory, with Dennis Olsen holding off all comers in the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class in his No. 65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3 he shared with Christopher Mies and Frederic Vervisch.
While Mustang beat Corvette in GTD PRO, Corvette emerged victorious in Grand Touring Daytona courtesy of the customer effort from AWA, which scored its second Rolex 24 win (2023 in Le Mans Prototype 3). Drivers Matt Bell, Orey Fidani, Lars Kern and Marvin Kirchhoefer shared the winning No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
Tower Motorsports crossed the line first in the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class, in the hands of Sebastien Bourdais, John Farano, Sebastian Alvarez and Job Van Uitert, sharing the No. 8 ORECA LMP2 07. However, IMSA announced Wednesday that the entry will be penalized to last in the class after the car exceeded the maximum allowable wear to the regulated area of the skid block on the underside of the car. The rulebook states that the maximum allowable wear for skid blocks is 5 mm.
NASCAR superstars Shane van Gisbergen, Connor Zilisch and Austin Cindric represented the stock-car racing world in the premier event, with the former two teaming in the No. 91 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3 and the 2022 Daytona 500 winner in the No. 64 Ford Mustang GT3, subbing for an injured Ben Barker. Both entries competed in the GTD Pro division, with the No. 64 landing third (19th overall) and the No. 91 finishing ninth (25th overall).
