A big contingent of drivers has begun preparations for this 12 months’s 24 Hours of Daytona, together with NASCAR Cup Collection’ latest driver, Connor Zilisch. Whereas Zilisch has his personal circle of mentors to lean on, he might simply borrow a web page or two from Jeff Gordon’s playbook. The younger up-and-coming driver will make his third consecutive begin within the twice-around-the-clock endurance traditional, and his first within the premier GTP class. Gordon, in the meantime, first sampled the occasion in 2007.
Gordon completed his first look in third place total, but walked away unhappy. A decade later, after retiring from NASCAR, he returned decided to rewrite his historical past on the famed occasion and finally gained. Recalling his expertise, Gordon mentioned,
“I really like the occasion. I inform folks on a regular basis, when you’ve by no means been on the grid earlier than the race for the 24 hours, both Le Mans or Daytona, you’re lacking out as a result of it’s the one time you’ll sit there and have a look at each single make of a automobile.”
When Gordon made his debut, he joined Wayne Taylor and the Pontiac-powered Daytona Prototype for SunTrust Racing, sharing the seat with Max Angelelli and Jan Magnussen. The competitors was fierce, and moist climate solely sophisticated issues. Nonetheless, Gordon and firm confirmed a aggressive tempo and hovered within the high half of the operating order all through the occasion earlier than securing third total.
A decade later, when Gordon returned, Wayne Taylor had traded his driving swimsuit for a full-time workforce proprietor position, leaving his sons, Ricky and Jordan Taylor, to imagine the driving duties. That 12 months, Max Angelelli reunited with the Taylors to finish the endurance lineup.
The quartet campaigned Cadillac’s brand-new DPi prototype, billed because the producer’s most superior race automobile to this point. The machine was totally new to Gordon, who drove a low-downforce entry in 2007.
Gordon familiarized himself in the course of the Roar Earlier than the 24. Come race weekend, Ricky Taylor opened the occasion earlier than handing over to Gordon one hour and 48 minutes into the competition. The transition, nevertheless, didn’t go as anticipated. Gordon made contact with Tom Lengthy’s No. 70 prototype, dropping the workforce to 3rd. Nonetheless, the injury proved minimal, therefore the automobile remained within the hunt.
Two hours and half-hour into the race, Gordon discovered his rhythm and confirmed tempo to capitalize on technique to retake the general lead. By the closing levels, the workforce discovered itself locked in a duel with the pole-sitting No. 5 Cadillac DPi. However then, contact between the Cadillac DPi and Felipe Albuquerque despatched the rival spinning, clearing the lane for Gordon’s group to grab the win.
The success positioned Gordon in a uncommon listing of drivers who’ve gained the Daytona 500, the Brickyard 400, and the Rolex 24. He has additionally known as the profitable Rolex timepiece, an Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona, which drivers obtain on profitable the race, “considered one of my best trophies/possessions,” noting that he wears it typically and that the again is engraved with the designation “Rolex 24 winner.”
