Six and a half hours of fog mad the finish closer than it should have been. Felipe Nasr and the number 7 Porsche Penske dominated the entire race from start to finish. Only body damage to the sister car, number 6, kept this edition of the Rolex 24 from ending in a 1-2 Porsche finish.

For Nasr and Penske it was three in a row, a rare feat in endurance racing.

Congratulations to the other class winners:

LMP2- Crowdstrike

GTD Pro Paul Miller Racing BMW

GTD Winward Racing Mercedes

IndyCar Drivers

Will Power had the best race among the IndyCar drivers in the field. The GTD Pro Merce3des team Power drove for finished second in class.

Other results:

GTP

Alex Palou- 5th

Colton nHerta 6th

Scott Dixon 9th

LMP2

Nolan Siegel 3rd

Kyffin Simpson 8th

GTD Pro

Power 2nd

Kyle Kirkwood 10th

GTD

Marcus Ericsson 8th

Scott McLaughlin 17th

Callum Ilott 20th

TV Coverage

I watched most of the race on Peacock The coverage was mostly okay. They seemed to do a more balanced job this year of covering all four classes, including the b collision in GTD late in the race while a battle for first overall was going on.

There were far too many commercial breaks, especially near the end of the race. When Leigh Diffey said they would go nonstop for the final 13 minutes, I thought, “How generous!”

With a six hour plus caution for fog, surely NBC/Peacock could have gotten in many of their breaks during that time.

I loved all the vintage clips the network showed this year. More of that, please.

On the other hand, the announcers seemed obsessed with mentioning A J Allmendinger constantly. Yes, he is a great driver. Yes, he has won the Rolex 24. I like A J. He is a really good guy. I just think the network should have just put him on staff if they want to mention him so much.

Final Thoughts

2026 was the first Rolex I have not attended in person since the pandemic. Since I closed Winter Headquarters late last year, I’m not sure when I will get back to Daytona.

The track announced record attendance, and I find that plausible. Each year I went, the crowd seemed larger than the previous year. The track is moving toward reserved camp spaces starting in 2027. I’m anxious to see how that works out.

I will try to get to Sebring, my favorite sports car race in North America.

I’ll be back tomorrow with some IndyCar happenings. Content days begin tomorrow, so there should be lots of news.

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@jsoupzzz24

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