Daytona24: O'Connell Racing preview

O'Connell Racing to Provide Technical Support & Engineers for Rolex 24 at Daytona for Rick Ware Racing and NASCAR Driver Jeffrey Earnhardt

ORANGE COUNTY, CA., (January 24, 2011) -- O'Connell Racing announced today that team driver Kevin O'Connell, along with crew chief Roy Montgomery, team engineers Robby Leuer and Jake Perkio will join NASCAR team owner Rick Ware and NASCAR Camping World Series driver Jeffrey Earnhardt for the 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona scheduled for the weekend of January 29th.

Team principal Kevin O'Connell commented, "We are excited about working with Rick and Jeffrey as well as the other team drivers that have stepped up to be a part of this inaugural Ware Racing effort to run the 24 Hour in Daytona. Our team has worked with Rick as well as Stanton Barrett since late 2009 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series road course events and during the Road America race last summer Rick expressed interest in running some Rolex Series races this year. In an effort to build on the success OCR had in Grand Am previously, we have been working closely with Rick and his team to set up a solid platform for 2011 that will include continuing our affiliation with Porsche Motorsport and campaigning of the iconic Porsche GT-3 Cup cars."

Roy Montgomery will be calling the race for Ware Racing during the entire 24 Hour race and be handling pit stop driver changes. OCR engineers Robby Leuer and Jake Perkio will be working with Continental Tire to prepare the tires for the pit stops as well as preparation for the much anticipated change to rain tires throughout the night. Leuer will also be switching out with Montgomery on driver changes as well.

O'Connell commented, "We have several Pro Am drivers this year driving with Jeffrey and it is important that we keep these drivers informed and make the transition in and out of the car as seamless as possible. You have guys of various sizes with various likes and dislikes inside the car and you want them in the car comfortably and confident throughout their stint. Every time we have run Daytona there has been a decent amount of rain so need to have a plan for that as well."

-source: o'connell racing