Hour 15

Okay, NOW the 2009 Rolex 24 is two-thirds completed. And by the time this is posted, I'll have been awake an entire 24 hours. Started to fade some a half-hour or so ago but I've rebounded nicely, thank you.

Casey Mears completed his second stint of the event at approximately 7:13 a.m., coming down pit lane on lap 472 shown 16th on the leader board. A solid pit stop by the Gentleman Jack crew provided fresh Pirelli tires, a full load of fuel and a new driver in Danica Patrick.

"It was fun. There were no issues that time. When I took cold tires halfway through the run, I spun out. But I just looped it around and kept going so it didn't really hurt us. I gained a lot of seat time in the Gentleman Jack car that run. I think we ran the fastest laps of the night that last run. I feel like I'm getting a lot more comfortable. We didn't get a whole lot of laps at the test (Jan. 2-5) so it's been fun just getting this race in and logging a lot of laps."

The sun peaked above the horizon at approximately 7:18 so we've made it through the evening. The Childress-Howard Pontiac Crawford ran strong throughout the darkness so we'll see what's in store over the final eight hours of the event. Stay tuned.