Before we really get into the meat of the Daytona Speedweeks events with the Can-Am Duels on Thursday night, let’s look back at the start of the racing season to this point with a few other events that have taken place at Daytona International Speedway.
Every year the Rolex 24 at Daytona gets more and more competitive and this year again featured an incredible run to the finish.
A caution with 28 minutes remaining in the race tightened up the contenders in the Prototype class and helped the #10 Konica Minolta Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac Team with Ricky and Jordan Taylor, Max Angelelli, and Jeff Gordon take the lead and the overall win.
Ricky Taylor battled Filipe Albuquerque and even made contact attempting to pass him with 16 minutes left. With seven minutes remaining, Taylor ducked inside going into turn one and spun the #5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac of Albuquerque. The incident was reviewed by IMSA, but Taylor kept the lead and claimed the win. Twenty-three hours, fifty-three minutes, and 659 laps and the difference between getting a Rolex and not comes down to contact in turn one. It was racing incident, but a case could’ve made for each driver to be in the wrong.
The race was plagued by rain for most of the overnight hours and even run under caution for over an hour at a time. Despite the weather, three of the four classes had tremendously close finishes that came down to the final minutes. The sun even peaked out during the closing laps on Sunday.
It was the first class win in the Rolex 24 for Gordon, in his 2nd career start, adding one more accomplishment to his legendary racing career.
“This is very surreal to me, this whole experience and moment, to have this on my résumé,” Gordon said. “It’s a very elite group that’s won the Daytona 500 and the Rolex 24 together. That’s something I’m very, very proud of. But I think more than anything is this experience for me of – not to take anything away from 2007 with Max and Jan and Wayne –what amazing race car drivers both Ricky and Jordan are and how difficult this race is.”
Even a month later as Gordon prepares to call the Daytona 500 for FOX, he is still talking about the race and the time piece he got for winning.
“Of course, everybody wants to see the Rolex watch,” Gordon told RACER. “I went out and got it sized right away as soon as I got back to Charlotte. It was a fun experience walking in with that watch into a Rolex store. Obviously, it gets a lot of attention …”
Max Angelelli also claimed his second Rolex win in his final race.
Chip Ganassi took home another Rolex win in the GTLM class with one of his four Ford GTs. The winning car was driven by Dirk Mueller, Joey Hand, and Sebastien Bourdais.
This past Saturday Austin Theriault won the Lucas Oil 200 in the ARCA Racing Series’ annual Daytona event. Theriault held off Terry Jones and Shane Lee as the race was red-flagged and eventually called due to damage to the Safer barrier. The damage was caused by a big crash in which Justin Fontaine ended up on his roof.
DAYTONA, FL – FEBRUARY 18: ARCA driver Justin Fontaine and Codie Rohrbaugh crash during the ARCA Lucas Oil 200 on February 18, 2017, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona, FL. . (Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The ARCA race almost always features a lot of crashes, mainly because most of the drivers are racing on the super speedway for the first time.
Hinckley, Ohio native Matt Tifft, who has overcome brain surgery to remove a tumor last year, finished 12th in his NOS Toyota. Tifft will race a full schedule in the Xfinity Series this year for Joe Gibbs Racing. You will hear more about him in this space as the season builds.
Speed For Thought 