Mears' victory a breakthrough for NASCAR
Casey Mears became the first NASCAR driver to be part of a winning team in the Rolex 24, America's most prestigious endurance race.
Scott Dixon and new teammate Dan Wheldon joined Mears in co-driving the victorious Lexus entry for owner Chip Ganassi.
"Let's hope this is just the start of a lot of good things for this team," said Wheldon, the reigning IRL champion and Indianapolis 500 winner, who won as part of the Ganassi team in his first start since leaving Andretti Green Racing.
Avoiding major trouble was the key in this grueling twice-around-the-clock battle that saw seven different leaders, all of them among the 31 Daytona Prototypes that started at the front of the 66-car field at 12:10 p.m. Saturday. Not even the winning car was immune to the mechanical problems that plagued many of the top teams.
"We had brake issues to start with, then a gearbox, then brakes again," Dixon said. "Then we had some engine belts fall off three or four times. Yeah, and we couldn't select some gears. I thought, eventually, it was going to knock us off the lead, but the team seemed to have an answer every time."
The winners covered 734 laps and 2,613.04 miles on Daytona International Speedway's 3.56-mile, 14-turn road circuit and averaged 108.826 mph. That was good for a one-lap victory over the Lexus Riley of Champ Car teammates A.J. Allmendinger and Justin Wilson and Oswaldo Negri and Mark Patterson.
It was the biggest win of Mears' career. He becomes the first driver to be part of a winning Rolex team while still racing full time in NASCAR.
"It's always been well known in racing that this is one of the biggest races around," he said. "It's a big honor to come here and represent NASCAR and win it."
It was an amazingly close competition for a 24-hour event, with four cars separated by just four laps at the end. Most of the biggest names in the star-studded field were far behind or out of the race at the finish.
A car shared by Rusty Wallace, Danica Patrick and former Formula One drivers Allan McNish and Jan Lammers got as high as third in the 10th hour before an overheating problem and a blown head gasket retired their Pontiac Crawford.
Tony Stewart, whose team was denied victory the past two years by mechanical problems late in the race, fell out of contention early. Paired with three-time Rolex race winners Andy Wallace and Butch Leitzinger, Stewart's team had a series of mechanical problems and wound up 30th, 141 laps behind the winners. Stewart took his scheduled driving stints throughout the race even though his ribs, injured in a sprint car crash two weeks ago, were throbbing.
"I wish they were teeth so I could have them pulled," Stewart said, wincing as he watched the race from the pits. "The only time they don't hurt is when I'm in the race car."
Casey Mears became the first NASCAR driver to be part of a winning team in the Rolex 24, America's most prestigious endurance race.
Scott Dixon and new teammate Dan Wheldon joined Mears in co-driving the victorious Lexus entry for owner Chip Ganassi.
"Let's hope this is just the start of a lot of good things for this team," said Wheldon, the reigning IRL champion and Indianapolis 500 winner, who won as part of the Ganassi team in his first start since leaving Andretti Green Racing.
Avoiding major trouble was the key in this grueling twice-around-the-clock battle that saw seven different leaders, all of them among the 31 Daytona Prototypes that started at the front of the 66-car field at 12:10 p.m. Saturday. Not even the winning car was immune to the mechanical problems that plagued many of the top teams.
"We had brake issues to start with, then a gearbox, then brakes again," Dixon said. "Then we had some engine belts fall off three or four times. Yeah, and we couldn't select some gears. I thought, eventually, it was going to knock us off the lead, but the team seemed to have an answer every time."
The winners covered 734 laps and 2,613.04 miles on Daytona International Speedway's 3.56-mile, 14-turn road circuit and averaged 108.826 mph. That was good for a one-lap victory over the Lexus Riley of Champ Car teammates A.J. Allmendinger and Justin Wilson and Oswaldo Negri and Mark Patterson.
It was the biggest win of Mears' career. He becomes the first driver to be part of a winning Rolex team while still racing full time in NASCAR.
"It's always been well known in racing that this is one of the biggest races around," he said. "It's a big honor to come here and represent NASCAR and win it."
It was an amazingly close competition for a 24-hour event, with four cars separated by just four laps at the end. Most of the biggest names in the star-studded field were far behind or out of the race at the finish.
A car shared by Rusty Wallace, Danica Patrick and former Formula One drivers Allan McNish and Jan Lammers got as high as third in the 10th hour before an overheating problem and a blown head gasket retired their Pontiac Crawford.
Tony Stewart, whose team was denied victory the past two years by mechanical problems late in the race, fell out of contention early. Paired with three-time Rolex race winners Andy Wallace and Butch Leitzinger, Stewart's team had a series of mechanical problems and wound up 30th, 141 laps behind the winners. Stewart took his scheduled driving stints throughout the race even though his ribs, injured in a sprint car crash two weeks ago, were throbbing.
"I wish they were teeth so I could have them pulled," Stewart said, wincing as he watched the race from the pits. "The only time they don't hurt is when I'm in the race car."