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Race Recap: Rolex 24 at Daytona was fast and feisty

Let the record show that victory at the 2015 Rolex 24 at Daytona went to the No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Target/Ford EcoBoost Riley DP driven by Verizon IndyCar drivers Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan and NASCAR drivers Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson. The winner did 740 laps to cover 2,634.3 miles in 24 hours and 57.667 seconds. That's a statement to this year's pace in spite of 18 cautions, two more than last year: the Michael Shank Racing Ligier got pole with a time of 1:39.194, slower than last year's pole time of 1:38.270; however, the winning car last year only did 695 laps. The fight for top honors was shaved to a four-car battle over the first third of the event. The No. 02 Ganassi car took the lead on the first lap, swapping it well into the night with the No. 01 Ganassi car, the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP, and the defending champion No. 5 Action Express Corvette DP, all of them staying within about 20 seconds of one another. The Action Express car had a fuel connector come loose and lost three laps getting towed back to the pits to have it reattached, but was back in the lead 18 hours in. The No. 01 Ganassi car dropped out with recurring clutch problems 22 hours in, retiring not long after. A race-within-the-race is where the concluding action happened, a seven minute, 30-second dash from the end of the last caution to the checkered flag. During the penultimate pit stops with an hour to go, Dixon was in second place followed Jordan Taylor in the Wayne Taylor Racing DP into the pits but beat him out, taking the lead. The Action Express car was in third. In the last pit stops of the race, Dixon gained even more time, getting a four-second advantage over Taylor. Then a full-course caution came out twenty minutes before the finish when a Prototype Challenge car hit the wall and caught fire, bunching up the field. That closed the pits, but the Wayne Taylor Racing car had to pit during that yellow because of a miscalculation of driver time. No driver can be behind the wheel for more than four hours in a six-hour period but Jordan Taylor was going to go over, so he came in to swap out for brother Ricky. That cost the team any chance of second place, since they took an additional drive-through penalty for entering closed pits. When the track went green again, Sebastien Bourdais in the Action Express car stayed all over Dixon for the final five laps but couldn't get around him.

NHTSA investigates FCA for SUVs that roll out of Park

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is opening a preliminary evaluation into the 2014 Dodge Durango and 2014-205 Jeep Grand Cherokee after 14 complaints of the SUVs rolling out of Park. An estimated 408,000 of them could be affected, if a recall is necessary. All of the current complaints submitted to NHTSA about the issue concern the Grand Cherokee, and the claims allege that the SUV can roll out of Park whether or not the engine is running. Some folks report that they check the indicator each time because the gear sometimes fails to engage. Among the 14 cases, there are five accounts of crashes and three injuries, including a situation with someone allegedly being rolled over. NHTSA's preliminary evaluations are meant to investigate "the scope, frequency, and safety-related consequence" of a reported problem. They don't necessarily lead to a recall. Related Video: INVESTIGATION Subject : Unattended vehicle rollaway Date Investigation Opened: AUG 20, 2015 Date Investigation Closed: Open NHTSA Action Number: PE15030 Component(s): POWER TRAIN All Products Associated with this Investigation Vehicle Make Model Model Year(s) DODGE DURANGO 2014 JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE 2014-2015 Details Manufacturer: Chrysler (FCA US LLC) SUMMARY: The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has received 14 complaints (VOQs) alleging that after being placed in Park the subject vehicles have then rolled away from their parked position. The unintended motion has occurred with both the engine off and the engine running. ODI has also identified EWR field report data related to the alleged defect. The model year 2014 and 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee vehicles are equipped with an electronic gear selector (shift-by-wire system). The gear selection is made by pressing the shifter-paddle forward or backwards; the shifter does not move along a gate path as with conventional gear selectors. A Preliminary Evaluation has been opened to asses the scope, frequency, and safety-related consequence of the alleged defect. The VOQs associated with the opening of this investigation are: 10733158, 10730952, 10683556, 10679497, 10583366, 10725429, 10715401, 10711893, 10676998, 10668651, 10662619, 10662308, 10605865, and 10567538.

Cars.com runs 11-second quarter with Dodge Charger Hellcat

The Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat and its Challenger sibling are two of the heroes of the modern performance world. With a headline-grabbing 707 horsepower from a supercharged 6.2-liter V8, their output even shames many supercars. But how quick can one really cover a quarter mile? Cars.com recently decided to find out by taking a Charger Hellcat to the drag strip to see if the sedan lived up to Dodge's 11-second claims. The results were quite impressive. After 13 quarter-mile runs of adjusting variables like the tire pressures and the car's various electronic aids, the Charger Hellcat managed a pass in 11.03 seconds at 126.61 mph – the pinnacle result of the day. This car was mechanically stock and wore the optional Pirelli P Zero tires. According to Cars.com, other quick sprints reached 11.09 seconds and 11.1 seconds, which even beat the site's 11.41-second best from a Challenger Hellcat last year. Getting the Hellcat's prodigious power down without losing traction was a challenge, even on the summer tires. Cars.com thought it had a run that could have dropped below 11 seconds, but then the wheels spun. Using the factory-recommended pressures, the Charger Hellcat was no still slouch with an 11.27-second time recorded, but taking things down to 25 psi proved the quickest at the strip. We already knew that the Charger Hellcat was a wonderful vehicle for eating up huge gulps of asphalt at high speeds and could verify its 204-mile-per-hour top speed (quite a bit faster, incidentally, than the Ferrari California T's 196 mph top-speed). Apparently, the 11-second quarter-mile claim is just as accurate. Also, for any curious owners, the Cars.com story divulges many of the tweaks required to reach this seriously quick time. Related Video: