Porsche Penske Motorsport completes its Daytona hat-trick. The Roger Penske-owned team has won its third straight 24 Hours of Daytona race today after multiple factors threatened their lead. Porsche Penske Motorsport, driven by Felipe Nasr, Laurens Vanthoor, and Nick Tandy, was celebrating its 60th anniversary going into the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona.

It is Penske’s 21st victory in the event, and the team has joined the exclusive club of only three teams that have ever managed to win the event consecutively for three years. To make matters more heated, Penske’s competition was the France family that owns NASCAR. Action Express Racing is owned by Jim France. And they could’ve won the race if not for a slight mishap in their garage.

Disaster for France and domination for Penske

Interestingly, before the race started, things were not looking good for Roger Penske. His rival, Jim France’s Cadillac, had won pole position for the race. Their prodigious driver, Connor Zilisch, was looking forward to a good race to try to repeat his feats from 2024. However, their car ended up disqualified before the race. As a result, it would start from the 31st on the grid.

The drivers waged their way through the longest caution that lasted for over 6 hours owing to heavy fog. The caution time literally forced Roger Penske to take a mid-race break. The team owner prides himself on staying awake throughout the 24 hours, but ultimately, even he couldn’t last against the long caution period.

Eventually, the race became a face-off between the two most powerful families of NASCAR. The owner of IndyCar vs the owner of NASCAR. Roger Penske and Jim France’s drivers came out together after the final pit stops. There was a mere 0.3s between Nasr and Aitken. Aitken started attacking aggressively, forcing Nasr to bring out his heroics from the last season. His final move was squeezed out by Nasr on the frontstretch.

Nasr managed to try to put some distance between himself and Aitken. However, he was met with traffic, which allowed Aitken to rapidly close the gap. Nevertheless, it was Porsche Penske Motorsport and Nast who prevailed during the race. For Nasr, it was a historic moment. He has now been a part of the winning team six times in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona event.

So until the next time, the Penske family has the edge over the France family. But about the wonder kid, Connor Zilisch?

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Connor Zilisch fails to earn his second Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona victory

Cadillac’s lineup was equally amazing, with the likes of Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber, Mercedes Formula 1 driver Fred Vesti, and NASCAR rising star Connor Zilisch. Unfortunately for Connor Zilisch, there was nothing he could do as his team finished second. Team Porsche Penske Motorsport won the race with a lead of 1 minute, .569 seconds. However, the 19-year-old will have plenty of chances to take his revenge on Penske this year.

He will now drive full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series for Trackhouse Racing. Zilisch has earned the respect of veterans and the love of fans. So for him, the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series will be the make-or-break season. There is a lot of hype around his entry, and the way things are progressing, he might just make it to the top in a few years.

He also expressed his interest in racing in Formula 1 one day if he achieves success in NASCAR for a few years. Either way, Connor Zilisch is an upcoming prospect who will define the next generation of NASCAR drivers.