As the sun rose over the grandstands at Daytona International Speedway this past weekend, teams officially began their yearly quest to conquer the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Since the teams finished the 2007 season at Miller Motorsports Park, many changes have taken place in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16. Changes of note include Bill Lester, formerly of Nascar Craftsman Truck fame, joining the No. 3 Southard Motorsports team alongside Shane Lewis. When asked about his change of racing series, Lester stated, "I'm excited, you know I like these cars. They're fun to drive and they reward you."
Proven champions are migrating to the garage of Bob Stallings/Gainsco Racing lately, as two-time Sprint Cup Champion Jimmy Johnson and open-wheel veteran Jimmy Vasser have teamed up with regulars Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney as they try to lead the No.99 Pontiac Riley to victory lane at Daytona. Vasser has come out of semi-retirement to race in the Rolex 24, but he won't take this race lightly, saying "This is a race I want to win. I won this race in class in 1992, and I got a baseball hat, that's all I got. So I'd kinda like to have the watch."
Michael Shank Racing has been one of the fastest teams on the track since they unloaded on Friday. The change from Lexus to Ford has propelled MSR into higher expectations as the season approaches. Burt Frisselle, driver of the No.6 Ford, was very frank when asked about the team's performance over the test weekend "We set out this weekend with a pretty simple plan, we feel like we unloaded strong. We're in a spot right now where we're just polishing our rock, and we don't have to throw darts at the board and see what sticks."
With testing now complete, teams will continue preparation for Rolex 24 at Daytona which begins on Saturday, January 26th. Over 17 hours of the race will be covered live by FOX and SPEED Networks. For more information, please visit grand-am.com.
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