Chip Ganassi’s cars simply can’t be beat in the crown jewels of motorsports.
Ganassi cars finished first and second in the Rolex 24 at Daytona Sunday, with the No. 01 car defeating the No. 02 car after the 01 was assessed a penalty on pit road with about four hours to go.
Ganassi has now won the Daytona 500 with Jamie McMurray, the Indianapolis 500 with Dario Franchitti, the Brickyard 400 with McMurray and the Rolex 24 within 12 months.
The 01 was piloted by Joey Hand, Scott Pruett, Graham Rahal and Memo Rojas while the 02 boasted Ganassi’s IndyCar and Sprint Cup drivers in Scott Dixon, Franchitti, McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya. (The 02 finished the race with it’s third nose of the race on the car thanks to some aggressive driving. Marbleheads, you can guess who that was.)
The 01 was penalized because Hand hit the used tires that were in the pit box as he pulled away hurriedly from the pits. However, it wasn’t necessary for the team to be so urgent with the pit stop process because the 02, who was pitted in front of the 01, was making a driver change, necessitating a longer pit stop.
However, the penalty worked in the 01′s favor, as the team pitted under caution with just under two hours to go to ensure that the car made it the rest of the way on fuel. The 02 car, which was leading at the time of the caution, stayed out and pitted under green with about 45 minutes to go, handing the lead back to the 01.
For Rahal this was 30 years after his father, Bobby Rahal, won the Rolex 24.
TRG, which operates the No. 71 car in the Sprint Cup Series, won the GT division with Brendan Gaughan and Andy Lally behind the wheel at times, and the No. 9 car, which was driven by JC France and Max Papis, along with former NASCAR driver Christian Fittipaldi, finished third overall.
Ganassi cars go 1-2 in Rolex 24 at Daytona
