David Donohue won the Rolex 24 to end Chip Ganassi Racing’s Daytona winning streak at three races and match his late father’s [Mark Donohue] victory here 40 years ago. Donohue held on for the win after passing NASCAR star Juan Pablo Montoya for the lead just 41 minutes from the finish. Donohue, who started from the pole in the Brumos Porsche Riley on Saturday afternoon, combined with former Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Rice, Antonio Garcia and Darren Law to win the closest race in the 47-year history of 24-hour classic at Daytona International Speedway. “We’re just a small part of what this team could do,” said a teary Donohue, whose biggest previous win was a class victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. “I’m just glad I could carry the flag.” Four of the sleek prototypes finished on the lead lap — the most ever — and the quartet spent most of the last two hours nearly nose-to-tail on the 3.56-mile road course that snakes through the infield and encompasses three-fourths of the 2ý-mile NASCAR oval. No more than two cars had ever finished on the lead lap before. The winners completed 735 laps, a total of 2,616.6 miles. Montoya replaced teammate Scott Pruett in the cockpit of the Ganassi Lexus Riley with about 2ý hours and appeared to be in control after he took the lead during the 23rd hour. A record 25 full-course cautions kept things close and the final yellow of the grueling race came out for debris with just over one hour to go. All four of the lead-lap cars took the opportunity to make their final pit stops. Donohue, who was just 8 years old when his father, Mark Donohue, died after a testing accident in Formula One in 1975, jumped into the driver’s seat of the #58 car during the stop and somehow managed to stay right behind Montoya as they left the pits. Jimmie Johnson, the three-time reigning Sprint Cup champion whose team finished second here a year ago, had some bad luck early in the Pontiac Riley he shares with former CART champion Jimmy Vasser and Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty. Johnson stopped Saturday night to have a broken tail light replaced and wound up having the gearbox replaced after he broke the transmission trying to get the car in gear. The team wound up seventh, 21 laps behind.(ESPN/AP)(1-25-2009)
