Grand American Rolex

Lewis has some recent racing success at the 3.27-mile track, having won the KONI Challenge Series six-hour 2007 season finale at VIR. He plans on putting all that knowledge to use come race time on Sunday.

"The car was ok-good, but not great," said Lewis. "I've got a lot of time here at VIR and hopefully all that experience will pay off during the race. You've got to avoid the dirty line that can develop here and knowing where to keep the car out of trouble is key. As a driver, it's hard to go from winning like I did last time I was here racing in KONI, to being where we are on the grid today. But we should be able to race forward tomorrow."

It's not just the challenge of 17-different turns that has Lewis thinking ahead to tomorrow's two-hour-and-45-minute VIR event.

"Nothing prepares you for coming up on GT traffic like you do here at VIR," said Lewis. "There are so many places where you just can't see anything until you get there, and if there's a slow GT car already there, it can be trouble. Hopefully we can avoid any problems though and get this car back into the top 10 again."

Lewis will open the race from behind the controls before turning the car over to Bill Lester, who has joined the Southard Motorsports team for his first full season of Daytona Prototype competition. The teammates took ninth in the GAINSCO Grand Prix of Miami, and will work to improve on the hard-fought 12th-place finish they scored in Mexico City.

"We're just not there yet with the car, but the Southard guys are working really hard to get everything they can out of the car," said Lester, who has made the move to Rolex Series competition after several seasons of NASCAR Craftsman Truck competition. "Hopefully we'll be okay in the race because we are all pushing to get the results that this team is capable of."

Memo Rojas, who took the pole honors in Mexico City on the way to teaming with Pruett to extend their championship points lead with their third consecutive podium finish, had his VIR time disallowed after qualifying due to car measurements being out of compliance with technical regulations. The TELMEX-liveried entry will start the race from the back of the Daytona Prototype grid. Rojas' qualifying time would have placed him on the pole position.

"This evening's news was definitely disappointing," said Rojas. "I know that we have a fast car and one that is able to be the fastest in the race. We have a lot of work ahead of us - it will be a game of working our way through traffic in a smart and efficient way. The TELMEX team have given Scott and I great cars all season, and we'll see what tomorrow holds."