A large contingent of drivers has begun preparations for this year’s 24 Hours of Daytona, including NASCAR Cup Series’ newest driver, Connor Zilisch. While Zilisch has his own circle of mentors to lean on, he could easily borrow a page or two from Jeff Gordon’s playbook. The young up-and-coming driver will make his third consecutive start in the twice-around-the-clock endurance classic, and his first in the premier GTP class. Gordon, meanwhile, first sampled the event in 2007.
Advertisement
Gordon finished his first appearance in third place overall, yet walked away unsatisfied. A decade later, after retiring from NASCAR, he returned determined to rewrite his history at the famed event and ultimately won. Recalling his experience, Gordon said,
“I love the event. I tell people all the time, if you’ve never been on the grid before the race for the 24 hours, either Le Mans or Daytona, you’re missing out because it’s the only time you’ll sit there and look at every single make of a car.”
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 competition was fierce, and wet weather only complicated matters. Still, Gordon and company showed a competitive pace and hovered in the top half of the running order throughout the event before securing third overall.
A decade later, when Gordon returned, Wayne Taylor had traded his driving suit for a full-time team owner role, leaving his sons, Ricky and Jordan Taylor, to assume the driving duties. That year, Max Angelelli reunited with the Taylors to complete the endurance lineup.
The quartet campaigned Cadillac’s brand-new DPi prototype, billed as the manufacturer’s most advanced race car to date. The machine was entirely new to Gordon, who drove a low-downforce entry in 2007.
Gordon familiarized himself during the Roar Before the 24. Come race weekend, Ricky Taylor opened the event before handing over to Gordon one hour and 48 minutes into the contest. The transition, however, did not go as expected. Gordon made contact with Tom Long’s No. 70 prototype, dropping the team to third. However, the damage proved minimal, hence the car remained in the hunt.
Two hours and 30 minutes into the race, Gordon found his rhythm and showed pace to capitalize on strategy to retake the overall lead. By the closing stages, the team found itself locked in a duel with the pole-sitting No. 5 Cadillac DPi. But then, contact between the Cadillac DPi and Felipe Albuquerque sent the rival spinning, clearing the lane for Gordon’s group to seize the win.
The success placed Gordon in a rare list of drivers who have won the Daytona 500, the Brickyard 400, and the Rolex 24. He has also called the winning Rolex timepiece, an Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona, which drivers receive on winning the race, “one of my greatest trophies/possessions,” noting that he wears it often and that the back is engraved with the designation “Rolex 24 winner.”
