Photo and video for Headline Surfer® / Scott Pruett wheels the 01 Chip Ganassi car to victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway on Jan. 20, 2011, in one of the closest races ever with four cars finishing on the lead lap where endurance is the name of the game in the overnight race. The video highlights the dramatic finish to the checkered flag.
DAYTONA BEACH -- Scott Pruett, in the 01 Daytona Prototype, outdistanced the 02 sister car of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates in a mad dash to win the 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway.
The victory completed "Chip Slam," giving the ownership team consecutive victories in the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500, Brickyard 400 and, finally in January, of course the Rolex 24, all in the same 12 months.
It was Pruett's fourth win in the event; for co-driver Memo Rojas, his second victory, while co-drivers Joey Hand and Graham Rahal won for the first time, the latter 30 years after his father, Bobby Rahal, won the event.
Ganassi won three Rolex 24s between 2006-'08, and has earned runner-up finishes the past two years.
"I don't drive the cars, I don't change the tires, I don't work on the engines," Ganassi said. "There are lots of people, lots of great competitors that it takes to make up a team, and I'm just the guy that gets to stand up there and talk about it."
"I don't drive the cars, I don't change the tires, I don't work on the engines," Chip Ganassi said. "There are lots of people, lots of great competitors that it takes to make up a team, and I'm just the guy that gets to stand up there and talk about it."
Rounding out the top three was the runner-up No. 02 Ganassi Racing entry with Dixon, Indy car racer Dario Franchitti, Sprint Cup driver Juan Pablo Montoya and 2010 Daytona 500 champion Jamie McMurray.
Third-place honors went to the No. 9 Action Express Racing Porsche Riley and drivers Max Papis, Christian Fittipaldi, JC France, Joao Barbosa and Terry Borcheller.
The No. 67 TRG Porsche GT3, driven by Andy Lally, NASCAR driver Brendan Gaughan, Spencer Pumpelly, Wolf Henzler and Steven Bertheau, overcame a broken clutch to take GT class honors.
The highly competitive race featured 52 lead changes among 27 drivers. Twelve of the 18 Daytona Prototypes in the field led at some point. The race was slowed 23 times for 141 laps.
While there were no major incidents, early morning fog led to two hours and 47 minutes, resulting in 57 laps of caution.
FAST FACTS: Lots of miles
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