Here Comes the Rolex 24

Here's my Rolex 24 Pre-Race Rundown:

There are some notable absences. The Rolex 24 has seen a bunch of NASCAR stars in previous years: Tony Stewart, Dale Jr., Bobby Labonte, and Matt Kenseth, among others. Not so many this time. Not all of the IRL drivers I expected are here, either. Helio I can understand, but Dan Wheldon? Tony Kanaan? I can't figure that out. They're too good to miss this one.

Anyways, here's how I handicap it:

DP Class

01: Won it all last year with mostly the same lineup; I look for them to repeat.

02: Ran well last year until car troubles put them in 44th place.

2: Danica Patrick brings star power, but the real stars are Andy Wallace and Casey Mears. Unfortunately, they have a Crawford chassis.

7: Timo Bernhard is one of the best Porsche 911 drivers on the planet, and Ryan Briscoe can drive an Indy car well sometimes, if he doesn't pull something stupid. However, they're not driving a 911 or an Indy car. The good news is that it's a Penske entry.

10: Max the Axe leads a strong lineup here, for an experienced team. With some luck, they could win.

16: Another Penske entry, with Bernhard and Briscoe, plus Romain Dumas. That adds up to talent. We'll see.

22: Here's the sleeper. Dalziel, Enge, Ducote, Dumolin, and de Quesada. There's a lot of talent in this ride. I'm eager to see if they can pull it off.

45: Danger Mouse and The Prince? They won't win, but let's see which one wrecks it.

58 and 59: Brumos always runs well until the car breaks down. It'll be the same story this year; just watch and wait.

99: Another sleeper, although having Jimmy Vasser and Jimmie Johnson makes them a little more wakeful. They've got a shot if the 01 and 02 have troubles.

GT Class

07: Plenty of talent here, with a proven team and Pontiac car. Don't count them out.

33: Wright Motorsports has hired some good drivers, but they're not a Rolex Series regular.

40: Dempsey Racing? Never mind. Have fun, Patrick.

66: The Racer's Group usually has two strong entries. This is one.

67: This is the other. This one has better talent. I'll pick them to win in GT.

69: This team won the GT class last year, and is back with an identical lineup. That makes them an automatic contender. It's nice to see a rotary-engine Mazda up front again.

85-89: Farnbacher Loles throws five cars into the mix. It's a good team in general; with some luck they might get a podium finish. Or not.