De Paddock - veel NASCAR in Daytona 24 hours

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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- A handful of drivers with NASCAR connections will compete in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the opening event of Speedweeks 2003, at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 1-2.

Among the current NASCAR drivers scheduled to attend are Winston Cup driver/owner Kyle Petty, who is listed to drive a pair of GT class Porsche GT3 Rs and Busch Series owner/driver Kevin Lepage, who will pilot a GTS class Ford Mustang.

Lepage's team includes Tommy Riggins of Jacksonville, Fla., a former IMSA Kelly American Challenge champion who has some Busch and Winston Cup Series starts on his resume.

Other drivers with NASCAR in their pedigree include J.C. France, the son of NASCAR executive vice president/secretary Jim France. He will team in a Porsche Fabcar Daytona Prototype with the late Mark Donohue's son David Donohue, who made 15 starts in the Busch and Craftsman Truck Series in 2001; and Mike Borkowski, who was a Busch Series Rookie of the Year candidate in 2000.

Boris Said, the 2002 SCCA Trans-Am champion, is a regular choice as a road-course driver in the Winston Cup and Busch Series and made two Winston Cup starts in 2002. Said, a Truck Series regular in the late 1990s with a 1998 road course win at Sears Point, is driving a BMW Picchio prototype.

David Liniger, a longtime NASCAR driver, is teaming in a GTS Corvette for the second straight year with versatile Rick Carelli and John Metcalf. NASCAR hopeful David Murry is also driving a Porsche GT3 R.

In addition, Winston Cup owner Robert Yates' engine department is building five-liter powerplants for the factory backed Ford Focus Daytona Prototype fielded by Canada's Multimatic Motorsports.

Former Indy car driver Christian Fittipaldi, who has made a couple stabs at stock car racing in the last few seasons and intends to make it his focus in 2003, wanted to test at Daytona, but his team's prototype car is not ready.

They begin preparations Friday as a three-day test opens on the 3.56-mile road course that includes most of the high-banked 2.5-mile trioval that is used for the Daytona 500 stock car race, set for Feb. 16.

bron: nascar.com