Action Express Racing put one of its two Cadillacs the one featuring NASCAR champion Chase Ellott on the pole for the Rolex 24 at Daytona in a first-of-its-kind qualifying race for the crown jewel endurance event.
The No. 31 Cadillac DPi will be driven next week in the twice-round-the-clock race by Felipe Nasr, Pipo Derani, Mike Conway and Elliott in Elliott s IMSA sports car debut.
He didn t race the car in Sunday s qualifier, which awarded 35 points to the pole-winning team. Action Express used fulltime regular drivers Nasr and Derani for the 140-minute qualifier around the winding Daytona International Speedway road course and snagged the Rolex 24 pole.
Action Express Cadillac Wins Qualifying Race, Takes Rolex 24 Pole
Corvette Racing and the Turner Motorsports BMW take inaugural qualifying race wins in GTLM and GTD. Icon SportswireGetty Images
The Rolex 24 at Daytona s pre-season test has been a source of controversy for quite some time. The event is famous for its potential for Sandbagging, putting in slower-than-expected lap times during the test to convince regulators to give a team a pre-season performance increase before their biggest race of the season, and IMSA has been trying to legislate the practice out since at least 2014.
These plans have not worked. Sandbagging has remained a ubiquitous part of the test, which now seems to exist only to provide a platform for sandbagging to happen in the first place.
Wayne Taylor Racing Hangs Rolex 24 Three-Peat Hopes on Dream Driver Lineup, Acura
Team owner welcomes three superstars with plenty of Acura experience to Rolex party.
Wayne Taylor Racing is going for its third consecutive Rolex 24 at Daytona overall victory.
This year s team is WTR s first with Acura. The team s three previous Rolex wins have come with Cadillac.
Taylor s driver lineup for this year s Rolex includes Indy 500 winners Helio Castroneves and Alexander Rossi, along with past Rolex winners Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque.
Wayne Taylor will never be accused of resting on his laurels.
The team owner of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series Wayne Taylor Racing has been the king of the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona in recent years with back-to-back wins and three wins in the past four Rolex 24s. Each one of his team s three overall wins have come with different lineups.