DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Roger Penske was in position to win the Rolex 24 at Daytona for the first time since 1969 when one of his two Porsche entries — the one with Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden in the lineup — was leading with under four hours remaining Sunday.
Penske last won the most prestigious endurance race in the United States 54 years ago with a lineup of Mark Donohue and Chuck Parsons, who was flown in the day before the race because regular driver Ronnie Bucknum fractured his finger in a motorcycle accident.
Team Penske also won the GT class in 1966 but has been chasing the overall Rolex victory since ’69.
Cadillac dominated the entire lead-up to the twice-around-the-clock race at Daytona International Speedway, and it seemed certain that either defending IMSA series champion Action Express Racing or Chip Ganassi Racing would win when the checkered flag waved Sunday.
But the Ganassi car was eliminated with an engine failure during the overnight stints, and Penske took the lead with just under six hours remaining. Felipe Nasr passed Jack Aitken on track to take the lead and built a lead of more than four seconds.
A win would cap a remarkable stretch for Penske, the most decorated team owner in motor sports history. In the last eight months, he won a record-extending 19th Indy 500 with Newgarden’s victory, claimed back-to-back NASCAR Cup titles when Ryan Blaney won in November and celebrated the achievements at industry events in early December and last week. He and Newgarden were feted at the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan and presented with their own replica Indy 500 trophies.
Newgarden had been asking Penske for years to drive Team Penske cars in other racing series, and he wasn’t certain the Indy 500 victory was enough to earn him a Rolex seat. But he was serious about not being a hinderance to a lineup that includes Nasr, Dane Cameron and Matt Campbell.
“He’s fit in perfectly with the team, he’s easy to get along with and obviously very experienced within the Penske organization,” Campbell said. “That makes it quite easy for him. It’s good having a guy like him, he brings a lot of experience in different ways. I know coming from IndyCar, it is quite different. But he’s brought some new ideas to the table.
“Having someone with his expertise in a different style of racing has really boosted us, and he’s been able to adapt very well.”
Newgarden said his only goal was to be a positive addition to the Porsche team.
“When I come to work with guys like Matt or Felipe or Dane, I’m learning something new and I’m seeing a new perspective that I’ve never seen before,” Newgarden said. “I haven’t run sports cars that often, definitely not as much as these guys. So they have a way of looking at things or approaching situations much differently than we do.
“I think that can be really positive. When I say be an additive, it doesn’t mean have 100 good ideas and they are going to take all of them. But if you have 100 good ideas, there might be 10 that are applicable, and that would be an additive. I’ve got that fresh perspective.”
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
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