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Massive fire breaks out at Daytona International Speedway ahead of Rolex 24

JHby:Jonathan Howard•01/22/25•

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Rolex 24 Daytona wreck
Nigel Cook/News-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

A bit of a scary situation in the garage area as a fire broke out at Daytona International Speedway earlier this afternoon. IMSA is getting ready to take on the Rolex 24 at Daytona. This fire almost put a damper on things.

Daytona International Speedway is ready to kick off the year. That begins with a 24-hour endurance race around the historic track. A race track like Daytona is no stranger to fire, but this could have easily gotten out of hand.

In the garage area, or paddock as it will be called this week, a fire broke out. It was right next to the Sunoco refueling station. The infield was filled with black smoke as firefighters responded to the situation.

There have been no reported injuries at this time. Here’s a photo of the smoke taking over the infield from John Dagys of SportsCar365.

Mark Urban captured a photo of the smoke rising above the paddock and haulers. This was no small trash can fire. It seems like a significant issue that was thankfully contained and put out before it got worse.

Dalton Hopkins of FrontStretch caught the Daytona fire department after the fire had been put out. It looks like that area of the paddock is ruined now.

While the flames and smoke caused quite a scene, the fire department was on top of things. There is a lot that can go wrong when a garage area catches on fire. Daytona officials were on top of the situation.

IMSA is looking forward to having a strong opening weekend. Last season, the Rolex 24 at Daytona was a great event with a huge crowd.

Fire at Daytona doesn’t stop Rolex 24 sessions

Tomorrow the Rolex 24 field will qualify on track at Daytona. Then fans will be able to see all of the teams and how they stack up. That includes the Trackhouse Racing entry which features Shane van Gisbergen, Connor Zilisch, Scott McLaughlin of IndyCar, and Ben Keating, a longtime endurance racer.

Quite frankly, Justin Marks has stacked his team with talent. He plans on putting the Trackhouse and TF Sport Corvette into victory lane. Last season, Zilisch helped secure the LMP2 win for his Era Motorsport team. Can he push Trackhouse to the win this year?

This will also give us a pretty good idea on who is the better racer. Is SVG or Zilisch the best road course racer in NASCAR? Is McLaughlin better than both? How will McLaughlin and SVG, former Supercars rivals, compare in the same car in the same race?

While they are all working toward the same goal, a win, it will be fun to see who has the fastest lap times and things. All I know is this group is insanely talented and has so many accolades. Adding a Rolex 24 GTD Pro win would be fantastic.