NASCAR chairman Jim France’s car wins Rolex 24 pole, then gets disqualified

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The Cadillac sports car owned by NASCAR chairman Jim France won the pole for the Rolex 24 at Daytona but was later disqualified in inspection, moving one of the favorites to the back of the class for the start of the most prestigious endurance race in the United States.

Action Express Racing won the pole on speed with driver Jack Aitken but forfeited its position when the No. 31 failed inspection because its rear skid block friction surface was beyond the allowed tolerance. The disqualification dropped the Cadillac to the back of the top GTP class, while one of two Acuras owned by Meyer Shank Racing was bumped to the front for a race that starts Saturday and goes twice-round-the-clock at Daytona International Speedway.

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France owns NASCAR, the IMSA sports car series, the Daytona track and the Action Express car that was disqualified. His car for this weekend features regulars Aitken and Earl Bamber, as well as Mercedes Formula 1 test driver Frederik Vesti and NASCAR rising star Connor Zilisch.

Zilisch, a 19-year-old Cup Series rookie, earned a Rolex class victory in 2024 but is racing at the top level for the first time. Gary Nelson, the Action Express team manager, held his breath last weekend when he sent Zilisch out for night practice because he was unsure if his experience level was high enough to manage the closing rate between the top cars and the slower classes — especially in the dark.

Zilisch was flawless.

“He calculates his risk pretty well. He doesn’t get in trouble, or he hasn’t, yet, driving our car,” Nelson said. “We put him out there at night with 55 other cars on the track for almost an hour and I was concerned, obviously, because there’s traffic, we’re in the fastest car, we’re passing cars constantly and many times those other cars don’t see us coming.

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“You have to be able to slice through the traffic without hitting anything or getting hit. When the session was over I made it a point to talk to him as soon as he got out of the car just to see if his blood pressure was up or his adrenaline was up and he was just like ‘So…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nascar-chairman-jim-frances-car-155240438.html

Author : JENNA FRYER

Publish date : 2026-01-23 15:52:00

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