Hour 16

A beautiful sunrise quickly gave way to overcast skies but, for those who have been awake and outside all night, the cool temperatures are just as good as a cup of coffee ... and a helluva lot cheaper than Starbucks!!

Check out the crew guys' faces in the accompanying photo. Other than a couple of head-bobs, these two and the rest of the team have been at it since about 9 a.m. Saturday. The expression on their faces is what the Rolex 24 is all about.

Danica's second stint of the event was a solid one, with laps in the 1:44-second range. Cold tires early in the first stint slowed her progress but she maintained position and pulled down pit lane around 7:15 a.m. running in the 15th position. Finally, on the scoring pylon above the two rotating positions!

"The first set of tires had the car just sliding around a lot. It felt like maybe the pressures were started a little high. It was understeering and then wheel-spinning coming off of the corners so it made it really edgy all the way around. The second stint felt a little bit better. The only problem was that I flat-spotted the tire early on; it felt like the right-rear which is always really comforting when you high the high banking. And then the door came open. I didn't notice it going down a straight line but, as soon as you slowed down, the door came open. The air really changed the balance of the car so the team made the right decision and we came in and changed drivers, tires and added fuel."

As this blog is posted, the Rolex timepiece (the temporary ones in the Fan Zone; I'm not high enough on the food chain to own one) shows 9:00 a.m. That means six-and-a-half hours remaining in the first major motorsports event of the season (all apologies to the Chili Bowl).