Several Nextel Cup drivers have invaded Daytona International Speedway this weekend as testing for the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series' season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona got under way.
Nine full-time Nextel Cup Series drivers -- and three others with close NASCAR connections -- are slated to drive Daytona Prototypes in the season-opening Rolex 24 on Feb. 3-6. Six of them were in action Friday as the three-day test began on the 3.56-mile Daytona road course.
Reigning Nextel Cup champion Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears, Jamie McMurray and brothers Bobby and Terry Labonte will all drive top-of-the-line Daytona Prototypes in the 43rd running of North America's premier endurance race.
Busch, Kenseth, Biffle, Mears, McMurray and the Labonte brothers all got behind the wheel Friday, some strapping into a Daytona Prototype for the very first time.
Stewart -- who was within an hour of winning the 2004 Rolex 24 with Dale Earnhardt Jr. before a mechanical failure ruined their effort -- will miss testing this weekend while he competes in the Chili Bowl Midget race.
Johnson is scheduled to arrive on Sunday.
Former Cup champions Bobby and Terry Labonte will share driving duties with IRL IndyCar Series driver Bryan Herta and sports car ace Jan Magnussen in the No. 44 Doran Racing Pontiac Doran. The two were among the drivers taking their first laps in a Daytona Prototype.
"It's a race you always watch and you always want to be a part of," said Bobby Labonte, who drives the No. 18 Chevrolet in Nextel Cup. "We've always watched it on TV and we always know who wins -- from the Al Holbert days on back.
"It's kind of cool. Terry's driven this race before, years ago. It's my first time and I'm really looking forward to it."
Terry Labonte, who is driving a limited Nextel Cup schedule in 2005, was a regular competitor in the Rolex 24 in the 1980s, when his Cup car owner Billy Hagan also owned and raced sports cars.
From 1981-87 Labonte made seven starts and posted an overall best finish of sixth.
"This is exciting," Terry Labonte said. "Bobby and I have been talking about this for a while (and) Bobby really did all the work putting this together.
"We've got a good team. I think it's a great series. I've been following the series for a while and it's really come a long way."
Terry Labonte said the biggest challenge in the grueling daylong race will be handling all the shifting duties on the Daytona Prototype, which is the premier division of the Rolex Sports Car Series.
"The biggest difference is shifting the transmission," Terry Labonte said. "This transmission is completely different than what I'm used to running. I think that's going to be the biggest thing to get adjusted to -- upshifting and downshifting (because) they don't use a clutch, where we use a clutch some in ours."
"It's quite a mix of people that come here for the 24 hours," Bobby Labonte said. "Obviously this race has been going on for a long time. It's definitely a neat program, getting a lot of different people here to do this."
Mears also made his Daytona Prototype debut, driving the No. 03 Target Lexus Riley. Mears joins Chip Ganassi Racing stock car teammate McMurray in a three-car, nine-driver powerhouse line-up from reigning Daytona Prototype champions Ganassi Racing.
"The Daytona Prototypes are similar to the Indy Cars that I used to drive, yet they stick a little better than the stock cars," Mears said. "This is a totally different discipline. Talking to everyone, you run 85 or 90 percent pretty much the entire 24-hour race.
"The real objective for the first three-fourths of the race is to stay out of trouble and stay in contact with the leaders and try to be in a good, safe place and not be too hard on the car."
Mears joins Ganassi IRL teammates Darren Manning and 2003 champion Scott Dixon, who carry similar Target sponsorship in the IndyCar Series.
"It's really fun that Target got the two Chip Ganassi cars together," Mears said. "We've got a Target superteam here this weekend, so I'm looking forward to the run. This series just a couple years ago was having a hard time just staying alive, and they did a good job recreating it and bringing a lot of things back in to the sport.
"They made it attractive for guys from other areas of motorsports to come to the series. It's really cool and there's a lot of depth. It's interesting, and I get to race against some old friends."
The NASCAR fraternity is part of an stellar cast competing in the Rolex 24. Other notable drivers include Boris Said, who succeeded in 2005 in putting together a stock car program after years of championship sports car competition, former Rolex 24 winner Scott Pruett and TNT/NBC commentator Wally Dallenbach.
Nine full-time Nextel Cup Series drivers -- and three others with close NASCAR connections -- are slated to drive Daytona Prototypes in the season-opening Rolex 24 on Feb. 3-6. Six of them were in action Friday as the three-day test began on the 3.56-mile Daytona road course.
Reigning Nextel Cup champion Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears, Jamie McMurray and brothers Bobby and Terry Labonte will all drive top-of-the-line Daytona Prototypes in the 43rd running of North America's premier endurance race.
Busch, Kenseth, Biffle, Mears, McMurray and the Labonte brothers all got behind the wheel Friday, some strapping into a Daytona Prototype for the very first time.
Stewart -- who was within an hour of winning the 2004 Rolex 24 with Dale Earnhardt Jr. before a mechanical failure ruined their effort -- will miss testing this weekend while he competes in the Chili Bowl Midget race.
Johnson is scheduled to arrive on Sunday.
Former Cup champions Bobby and Terry Labonte will share driving duties with IRL IndyCar Series driver Bryan Herta and sports car ace Jan Magnussen in the No. 44 Doran Racing Pontiac Doran. The two were among the drivers taking their first laps in a Daytona Prototype.
"It's a race you always watch and you always want to be a part of," said Bobby Labonte, who drives the No. 18 Chevrolet in Nextel Cup. "We've always watched it on TV and we always know who wins -- from the Al Holbert days on back.
"It's kind of cool. Terry's driven this race before, years ago. It's my first time and I'm really looking forward to it."
Terry Labonte, who is driving a limited Nextel Cup schedule in 2005, was a regular competitor in the Rolex 24 in the 1980s, when his Cup car owner Billy Hagan also owned and raced sports cars.
From 1981-87 Labonte made seven starts and posted an overall best finish of sixth.
"This is exciting," Terry Labonte said. "Bobby and I have been talking about this for a while (and) Bobby really did all the work putting this together.
"We've got a good team. I think it's a great series. I've been following the series for a while and it's really come a long way."
Terry Labonte said the biggest challenge in the grueling daylong race will be handling all the shifting duties on the Daytona Prototype, which is the premier division of the Rolex Sports Car Series.
"The biggest difference is shifting the transmission," Terry Labonte said. "This transmission is completely different than what I'm used to running. I think that's going to be the biggest thing to get adjusted to -- upshifting and downshifting (because) they don't use a clutch, where we use a clutch some in ours."
"It's quite a mix of people that come here for the 24 hours," Bobby Labonte said. "Obviously this race has been going on for a long time. It's definitely a neat program, getting a lot of different people here to do this."
Mears also made his Daytona Prototype debut, driving the No. 03 Target Lexus Riley. Mears joins Chip Ganassi Racing stock car teammate McMurray in a three-car, nine-driver powerhouse line-up from reigning Daytona Prototype champions Ganassi Racing.
"The Daytona Prototypes are similar to the Indy Cars that I used to drive, yet they stick a little better than the stock cars," Mears said. "This is a totally different discipline. Talking to everyone, you run 85 or 90 percent pretty much the entire 24-hour race.
"The real objective for the first three-fourths of the race is to stay out of trouble and stay in contact with the leaders and try to be in a good, safe place and not be too hard on the car."
Mears joins Ganassi IRL teammates Darren Manning and 2003 champion Scott Dixon, who carry similar Target sponsorship in the IndyCar Series.
"It's really fun that Target got the two Chip Ganassi cars together," Mears said. "We've got a Target superteam here this weekend, so I'm looking forward to the run. This series just a couple years ago was having a hard time just staying alive, and they did a good job recreating it and bringing a lot of things back in to the sport.
"They made it attractive for guys from other areas of motorsports to come to the series. It's really cool and there's a lot of depth. It's interesting, and I get to race against some old friends."
The NASCAR fraternity is part of an stellar cast competing in the Rolex 24. Other notable drivers include Boris Said, who succeeded in 2005 in putting together a stock car program after years of championship sports car competition, former Rolex 24 winner Scott Pruett and TNT/NBC commentator Wally Dallenbach.