I'm well aware that I faded in and out of consciousness between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m., though I probably could have made it through the entire night If my coffee supply hadn't been cut off.
100% worth it though, and I'd gladly do it again. 
Photography by David S. Wallens
3 a.m.: That’s the start of the golden hour at the IMSA Rolex 24 At Daytona. There are too many elbow-to-elbow people here at the start and finish, and it’s just kind of sad at sunup, when bleary-eyed masses are either drunk (fans), bravely trying to look ready for anything (crew), or trying to sleep in some weird pretzel shape under a disposable gray furniture-moving blanket from Harbor Freight, ears somehow ignoring dozens of unmuffled engines at full song.
We walk the garage, which is pretty much empty: Attrition has been mild so far, but by the end of the 2025 Rolex 24, there are 21 cars of the 61 entered listed as “not running,” and some barely were.
You try to pick out cars passing by on the track by the sound they make–the 5.5-liter V8 in the Chevy Corvette sounds different from, say, the 5.4-liter V8 in the Ford Mustang, though they’re both naturally aspirated, both making about 600 horsepower. And that’s barely idling for these engines, which aren’t that different from far more powerful ones offered in streetable Corvettes and Mustangs. Does that seem right? Not at 3 a.m.
In the media center, a handful of journalists and public relations people are trying to stay awake in case something important happens–while kind of wishing it doesn’t. (And, for the most part, it didn’t.)
In the media center cafeteria, IMSA President John Doonan sits in a plastic chair, alone, with what passes for a cup of coffee here. And even though we know he’d greet us warmly, possibly with a bear hug, he deserves a little quiet time. “You can’t believe the preparation that goes into this race,” he told us earlier, his eyes already red from lack of sleep and campfire smoke.
None of this is to say that the start of Daytona Speedweeks hasn’t been eventful, because it has. There’s bound to be multiple “big ones” in the next couple of weeks, as the NASCAR Cup, Xfinity and Craftsman Truck series all visit, along with ARCA.
We’d already had our Big One: The second Mazda MX-5 Cup race, where 17 Miatas, almost half of the 35-car field, were scattered along the front straight, and it was SRO at the infield care center after drivers who couldn’t drive away had to take the mandatory ride to the MASH unit.
There was, as usual, a lot of beating and banging in Friday’s Michelin Pilot Challenge race, and likely you already know that Michael Cooper took the No. 44 Accelerating Performance McLaren Artura GT4 from fifth to first in the last 20 minutes to win in GS with co-driver Moisey Uretsky. And that in TCR, team owner Bryan Herta finally got a Daytona victory after Denis Dupont and Preston Brown drove the No. 76 Hyundai Elantra N TCR to the checkered flag.
In victory lane, Herta called Daytona International Speedway one of the “cathedrals of our sport.” It sure feels like it at 3 a.m.
And you’re already aware that in the Rolex 24, Roger Penske’s pair of Porsche 963 cars bookended one of Meyer Shank’s Acura ARX-06s, which had to settle for second, with the Porsches taking first and third in GTP. In his winner’s circle interview, Penske looked old and tired; after all, he turned 88 on February 20. One day he won’t be up on that pit stand, staying up all 24 hours with his team, and I’m not sure what we’ll do without him.
Those are the kinds of things you think about out here, at 3 a.m., and it makes you try to recall the moment in your childhood where you were indelibly imprinted with the racing gene that makes you know beyond a doubt that right here, right now, is where you belong.
Out here, at 3 a.m.
I'm well aware that I faded in and out of consciousness between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m., though I probably could have made it through the entire night If my coffee supply hadn't been cut off.
100% worth it though, and I'd gladly do it again.
I walked the garages with Steven at 3:00 a.m.
It’s quiet tonight, I noted.
That’s a good angle for a story, he added.
Walking through the pits and garages after midnight during the Rolex is one of my favorite activities of the race.
My fav is 4am.
I would always get up from about four hours sleep in the camper at 4, and walk the tri-oval from the grandstands down low, watching the cars blurring down the front straight at 200mph. So surreal.
Continue the walk around to the T4 tunnel, walk through, then head to the garage area for a quick look-see for overnight carnage.
By then the sun would start to peak out and I'd head to the grandstands outside the International Horseshoe to watch it come up while checking out the action through the kink.
Then over to GRM just as the Krispy Kremes would arrive. Commune with the staff and GRM faithfull.
4am is what I miss the most from not attending in person anymore.
4:00 was pretty cool, too. I was on pit lane then, hanging in the abandoned pit stalls and those openings in the wall. Other than the crews, it was just me and a few IMSA officials.
I took this at 3:58 a.m.
I took the lead photo at 3:12 a.m.
This was among the only action in the garages at the time.
By 3:30, I was on pit lane. This was taken at 3:24 a.m.
And at 3:45, I watched one of the AO crew members clean the front of a pit cart.
Taken at 3:57. It’s both quiet and not out there at that hour. I wish it lasted longer.
Heading back to the car at 4:11.
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