Five-time champion preaches patience

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The kind of pace Hurley Haywood wants out of his Brumos Racing sports car is considered "slow and steady." It also would be a record at the Daytona International Speedway.

Haywood, a five-time winner of the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, said he believes consistent laps of 119 mph around the 3.54-mile road course can win the race, although many of the other prototypes are certain to run much faster.

In making his 33rd start in the racing marathon, Haywood has learned speed takes a back seat to durability.

"It's the same as always: It's going to be the guy who spends the least amount of time on pit road," Haywood said. "We're going to run our conservative pace and see what happens. Slow and steady; stay out of trouble."

Haywood wants his Porsche-powered Fabcar to average 119 mph, which would break the 24-hour record at Daytona by more than 7 mph.

Scott Pruett, whose Lexus-Riley is 10th on the grid, said it will take a much faster pace.

"I can't remember a time when you've seen so many prototypes so close together," he said. "You will have to run hard - not crazy, but hard. There will be teams that will run hard for all 24 hours. You can't take it easy."

There are 31 Daytona Prototypes in the field of 67 that will take the green flag at noon today.

The race not only features drivers from the Grand American Road Racing circuit, but drivers from NASCAR, IRL and CART. All of them are concerned about side-by-side racing with equally matched prototypes and getting around GT cars that are 10 mph slower.

"You kind have got to treat everyone with patience because you don't know who it is," said IRL's Danica Patrick. "For sure, if it's someone without a lot of experience or I'm not sure of their style or the way they drive, you have to be careful. This is a race where you can't crash, you can't fall out, you can't have mistakes."