Every NASCAR Fan Needs to Watch the Rolex 24

Road Course Racing. Road Course Racing. Road Course Racing.

In recent years, the big wigs at NASCAR have made it clear that road courses are certainly here to stay. There could be a number of reasons for this change in the schedule – the rising presence of Formula 1, expansion into new geographic markets, challenging the drivers with more track variety, or maybe it’s just an attempt to break the “only turning-left” stigma. What can be said for sure is that it’s not due to television ratings.

We here at Rant Report looked at Neilson ratings from over the years, and it can be said that viewership for road course races is consistently less than that of the rest of the schedule. A multivariable analysis of all available ratings data (with the help of Microsoft Copilot AI) gave no substantive positive correlation between the number of road course races and television viewership.

See: TV Ratings – Frontstretch.com

Despite that, more keep getting added. I guess they must know something I don’t know, as the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule sees the drivers turning left and right in six of the thirty-six points paying races, compared to a third of that just five years ago.

But why aren’t NASCAR fans tuning in for these races the same way they are for others? My theory is simple: it’s an acquired taste.  In the past, the novelty of only seeing two of these races each season was enough for it to be interesting, even if it wasn’t. On top of that, over the years the character of this racing has changed as the cars have changed. The stock cars used prior to the current generation were not designed for road courses, leading to some A-grade NASCAR moments. Just go back to 2012 and ask Brad Keselowski and Marcus Ambrose.

See: 2012 Finger Lakes 355 Finish – NASCAR YouTube

Since the debut of the Next-Gen car, road course racing has evolved into a new flavor. With the intention of improving the on-track product on the non-ovals, the Next-Gen was modeled off of the cars used in the Australian Supercars Championship, which has no oval racing. This symmetrically designed car is so good at what it was designed for, that the racing product has become closer in resemblance to sports car racing than that of the NASCAR stock cars of only a few years ago.

This new different is not necessarily bad, but if NASCAR wants to pull the skeptics onto the road course bandwagon, they need to continue building appreciation for this new style of racing within the fans. Luckily for all of us, they certainly have the means to do just that.

In 2012 NASCAR acquired the IMSA (International Motor Sports Association) Sports Car Championship, the biggest sports car racing organization in North America. IMSA sanctions many of the biggest sports car events in the world, including one on NASCAR’s home turf, the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona.

What is the Rolex 24?

Daytona International Speedway regards the Rolex 24 as the most prestigious sports car race in North America, and anyone watching would be hard pressed on any disagreement. The annual race takes place mid-January and is the first event at the track each year. It is a 24-hour marathon, testing the limits of both man and machine, in and around the iconic thirty-one-degree banks of Daytona, and is the season opener for the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship.

See: Rolex 24 – Daytona International Speedway

This “test of man and machine” mantra is no joke – twenty-four hours is long time for both. A typical NASCAR race is around three, and we’ve all seen drivers exhausted after those, just one eighth the length of the Rolex. Most teams have three to four drivers per car, with driver stints lasting between two and four hours. Even with planned rotations, no driver can get anywhere near a full night’s sleep before needing to get back to peak alertness and focus for another adrenaline pumping hours long run in the car.

It is not uncommon for the leaderboard to be completely turned upside down during the single digit hours of the morning. Any split-second lapse in focus due to the sky-high levels of stress and fatigue can end hours upon hours of racing and months of preparation in an instance.

The fatigue of the drivers is unmatched compared to the fatigue of the car. The car runs non-stop for the full twenty-four hours, completing roughly 2,700 miles over the course of the race. That’s roughly 780 laps around the 3.56-mile circuit. When NASCAR raced on the Daytona Road Course in 2021, they ran less than a tenth of that distance.

What is Multiclass Racing?

As if it doesn’t sound hard enough already, the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona is not just one race – It’s four. There are four classes at the event, all with different vehicle specifications, different teams, different drivers, and different winners, all running the full day’s long event. The varying speeds across the classes does nothing less than quadruple the difficulty for those on track, and the excitement for those in the stands.

Of the four classes in the event, the top dogs are the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP). These cars are purpose built for endurance racing, with ultramodern aerodynamic design, and over 670 beastly horses under the hood. The car manufacturers are very hands on in the development and racing of these cars, with Acura, BMW, Cadillac, Lamborghini, and Porche all having GTP entries this year. These cars are undoubtedly the pinnacle of vehicle technology, rivaling the tech of even Formula 1.

See: A Breakdown of the 4 Racing Classes – southmag.com

The second class at the 24 Hours of Daytona is the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class, which are also purpose-built race cars, with slightly less technical advancement compared to those of GTP. These V8 powered vehicles all fall under the Oreca manufacturer banner and are used all across the world in endurance racing, not just in North America and IMSA. These of course are named for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, another prestigious sports car endurance race held annually in France. In the past there have also been LMP3 cars, making a fifth class, but this year they are not present due to expanding field sizes in the other classes.

Acura, BMW, Cadillac, Lamborghini, Oreca, and Porche. That’s quite the lineup, but that’s not all. How about we add Aston Martin, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Ford, Lexus, and Mercedes? If you had their car on your bedroom wall as a kid, they probably have a car in this race. These manufacturers all participate in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) classes, which make up the other two classes in the Rolex. The GTD classes are where the production-based sports cars are, resembling those found in the showroom. In the same way that NASCAR races “stock” cars, the GTD vehicles may look like their road-going counterparts, but these are highly specified and engineered to meet the racing standards set by asphalt of Daytona.

The same GTD cars are used in two classes of racing, so what’s the difference? One class is labeled “GTD Pro”, with all professional drivers behind the wheel, while the other is just “GTD”, with a mix of professional and amateur drivers. Yes, this is an A-grade international motorsports event with amateur drivers. Anyone whose main career is not racing can participate in this class, meaning it could be you, or anyone you know, burning rubber and banging doors with the best of the best. This may seem like such a minor element to this race, but watching this class creates an indescribable feeling that every race fan needs to experience. No matter where you are in life, or how much of a realist you may be, while watching this race and its amateur drivers there will be a spark within you, rekindling the fire of a child’s long-lost dream of becoming a race car driver.

See: 2025 Rolex 24 at Daytona Starting Lineup – NBC Sports

Four classes of racing. Imagine a NASCAR road course race with the Cup Series, the Xfinity Series, the Craftsman Truck Series, and the ARCA Menards Series, all on track at the same time. It’s hard to comprehend if you haven’t seen anything like it before, and it’s something you need to see.

Let’s put the whole picture together.

Twenty-four hours. Think of everything you do in a day, think about how long a day is. Think about how you feel when you lose a few hours of sleep. Think about how long you’ve driven without stopping, what’s the longest road trip you’ve done? A trip across the country from New York City to Los Angeles just about matches the distance covered in the twenty-four-hour race, a drive that normally anyone would be lucky to complete in three days.

It is impossible to put in perspective how massive a challenge this truly is. The sheer immensity of the event is enough to gain the respect of anyone watching, including the drivers. It’s why the Rolex has become a who’s who of motorsports. Formula 1, IndyCar, Formula E, the WEC, and of course NASCAR are all represented this year, with drivers across thirty-one different countries.

The Rolex has significant NASCAR alumni, including Dale Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Kyle Larson, Mark Martin, AJ Allmendinger, Danica Patrick, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, and many others. This year, Austin Cindric, Parker Kligerman, Shane van Gisbergen, and Connor Zilisch, are the drivers coming from the NASCAR stable. Even the NASCAR owners want a piece of the action, with TrackHouse Racing Feilding a GTD entry in 2025.

See: History of NASCAR Drivers in the Rolex 24 – NASCAR

For the fan watching at home, the television coverage will be a crash-course of motorsports unlike any other. No matter what hour you tune into watch, NBC does a fantastic job keeping you up to date on the race and giving you a peak behind the curtain of all the little things that go into racing. There will interviews with drivers, team owners, race engineering, pit crew members, and maybe even fans at the track attempting the all-nighter. No matter your level of motorsports knowledge, watching this race, for even just a little while, will have you learning something now or gaining a greater appreciation of everything that goes into racing.

No matter what, you need to tune into the last few hours of the race. The emotions are higher than ever, with twenty plus hours of blood, sweat, and tears dragging behind every car, and it will come down to the last moments. Two years ago, the top two finishers in the LMP2 class finished side by side: a margin of victory of 0.011 seconds. Twenty-four hours, down to one-one-thousandth of a second.

See: 2023 Rolex 24 LMP2 Battle Comes Down to Photo Finish – NASCAR YouTube

There is no denying that the Rolex 24 encapsulates the best aspects of road course racing. It is the perfect entry point for any casual fan to make the jump to learn more about racing, and there is something there for everyone. At the very least, tune in at 10:00 PM for the mid-race fireworks show! Every NASCAR fans, especially the road course skeptics out there, need to check out this race to find out why the executives at NASCAR keep serving them up to us.

All in all, there is truly no race like the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.