Roger Penske and his team have started the 2025 season right where they left it off in 2024, as champions. Porsche Penske Motorsports won the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona for the second year in a row. Daytona is indeed a special place for Penske; back in 1996, this is where Penske Motorsports first stepped foot in the motorsports world. And going by the recent history, they have firmly established themselves as giants of the American motorsports industry.

However, this victory at Daytona had a resemblance to last year’s nail-biting finish for Team Penske in the NASCAR Cup Series finale. Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, two Penske drivers, were battling each other for the crown. While these visuals were a treat for the fans in the grandstands, the veteran team owner was on the edge of his seat. And guess what, the win at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona came in a similar fashion as Porsche drivers Felipe Nasr and Matt Campbell traded blows against each other. But it was Nasr in the No. 7 Penske Porsche that edged out in front to bring home this win. Despite being chuffed with the victory, Penske was just glad things didn’t get out of hand.

Roger Penske had a déjà vu moment

“It’s best man wins.” These were the words uttered by the veteran team owner before his two drivers put on a show at Phoenix Raceway in a bid to win the NASCAR Cup Series championship. However, watching his drivers go wheel-to-wheel in almost every racing series certainly took a toll on the 87-year-old. In fact, he was up all night long following his drivers only to see them go wheel-to-wheel as the race was on its final stretch.

The 24-hour race turned into a shootout between the Porsche cars with the final restart. Nasr knew he had to throw caution to the wind to grab the victory, and he battled hard against Campbell, nearly making contact while swapping leads late in the race. Nasr took the lead on Lap 768 with 22 minutes on the clock, and he was able to hold on to his lead for the final 14 laps.

Penske told the reporter that he, “didn’t like that, but we’ve just got to let them do that. We didn’t talk to them about not racing each other, but obviously, these guys are racers, and fortunately, we didn’t get into trouble.” Nasr’s No. 7 Porsche crossed the finish 1.335 seconds ahead of Tom Blomqvist, whereas his teammate Campbell finished third as the last Grand Touring Prototype driver on the lead lap.

This was Roger Penske’s second consecutive Rolex 24 win, as last year they broke the 55-year winless streak in the classic endurance racing event. Penske now has three consecutive NASCAR Cup Series titles, back-to-back Indy 500 wins with Joseph Newgarden, and now the Rolex 24 also makes its entry into that collection. Meanwhile, Felipe Nasr had no remorse in throwing the kitchen sink at the end of the race to grab the victory.

Felipe Nasr had nothing but victory lane on his mind

Nasr knew he had to go the extra mile if he wanted to win the historic endurance classic at Daytona. Although Roger Penske was nervous seeing his two race cars trade blows and constantly swap leads, Nasr’s vision was crystal clear, and that was to win the event. “I like winning, that’s all, and that’s what I’m here for.” He said this to NBC Sports after the race.

He was glad to take Team Penske for the consecutive Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona triumph, and when he finally had his moment, the emotions got the better of him. “I’m proud I did it again back to back. Incredible work by everybody at Porsche Penske Motorsport. The two cars run very strong all the way to the end, and hey, it’s never over till it’s over. So I did everything I could behind the wheel to get ourselves set up. And it’s just an incredible, incredible feeling. I just cried in the car. I don’t know what to say. Incredible.” He added.

This was the 11th IMSA win for Nasr, who took home the winning trophy alongside his teammates, Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor.