Chip Ganassi Wins 2011 Daytona 24 Hours Race

Chip Ganassi has made it again! For the 4th time in the last 6 years, Chip Ganassi Racing has clinched the 24 Hours of Daytona. And the fashion in which the team did it this year was as thrilling as it can get.

And no, the win didn't come down to a Ganassi crew against some other team in the late stages of the race, but a fratricide battle between Ganassi's #01 Riley-BMW MKXI/XX driven by Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas, Joey Hand and Graham Rahal and its sister entry, driven by Scott Dixon, Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti and Jamie McMurray.

And we know we've been keeping the suspense, so we're just go ahead and tell you that the overall winner of the 2011 24 Hours of Daytona was Ganassi's #01 entry, who finished the race just 2 seconds ahead of their teammate squad.

In the final hour of the race, it was Scott Pruett who took the wheel of his BMW car and, benefiting from a late safety car period, managed to come only a few car lengths behind race leader Scott Dixon. Once the racers were allowed to resume action, it only took Pruet a few laps before passing for 1st place and setting up a thrilling battle until the finish line.

In the end, Dixon was unable to grab back the lead and had to settle for 2nd place overall, only tenths of a second ahead of former Daytona 24 Hours title holders Action Express Racing (Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, Max Papis, Terry Borcheller and JC France).