The U.S. Auto Racing Season Begins With This Historic 24-Hour Daytona Race

By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com

NASCAR, IndyCar and sports cars. They each have thier own seasons in the American racing calendar yet the first auto racing event of the year in the USA is this historic race in Daytona Beach at Daytona International Speedway.

No, it’s not the Daytona 500. That’s a couple weeks later. It’s the Rolex 24 at Daytona, a grueling around-the-clock, non-stop 24 hour race featuring some of the top drivers in the world from nearly every form of motorspots. Not only that, but it features four different categories – or classes – of automobiles, all racing together at different speeds at the same time on the same track. The classes, from fastest to least fast, are GTP (protoype cars), GTD PRO/GTD and LMP2 and all use both the banked oval of NASCAR plus the infield track. A total of 61 cars is in the 2025 field.

Talk about a challenge.

The 2025 Rolex 24 at Daytona dates are Jan. 23-26 with the 24-hour race starting Saturday, Jan. 25 at 1:40 ET, and ending Sunday at the same time.

It is part of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series. Drivers, many of whom come from other series’, include four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves who was also on the winning 24-hour team in 2021, 2022 and 2033;Scott Dixon, Alex Palou, Romain Grosjean, Kevin Magnussen, Colton Herta, Felipe Massa, Scott McLaughlin, Shane van Gisbergen, Connor Zilisch, Austin Cindric, James Hinchcliffe and Parker Kligerman.

The 2025 event is Jan. 23-26.

Rolex 24 Hours Of Daytona Fast Facts

Race Day/Time: Saturday, January 25 – 1:40 p.m. ET

NBC Network Coverage: LIVE, Saturday, January 25 – 1:30-2:30 p.m. ET; Sunday, January 26, 12:00-2:00 p.m. ET

Peacock Streaming Coverage: LIVE – Flag-to-flag beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET in the U.S.; International feed coverage available on IMSA.tv and YouTube.com/IMSAOfficial (outside the U.S.)

Live Qualifying Stream: Thursday, January 23 – 2:05 p.m. ET on Peacock and IMSA.tv (in the U.S.) and YouTube.com/IMSAOfficial (outside the U.S.)

Circuit Type: 3.56-mile, 12-turn road course

Classes Competing: Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO), Grand Touring Daytona (GTD)

Race Length: 24 hours

Track Social Media:

• Instagram: @daytona
• Facebook: @daytona
• X (formerly Twitter): @daytona, @Rolex24Hours

Event Hashtags: #IMSA, #Rolex24