The stunning 1-2 finish by the Chip Ganassi with Félix Sabatés Lexus-Riley Grand Am Rolex Series Daytona Prototypes at the Iowa Speedway race on Friday 13 July was definitely a hard act to follow. Nevertheless, Lexus entered the next race in the series, the Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama on Sunday 22 July with Scott Pruett leading the Daytona Prototype point standings by 15 points over second-place Max Angelelli with just five races remaining in the season, and with Chip Ganassi Racing stretching its points lead to 20 in the hunt for a third team title in the last four years.
Qualifying saw three Lexus racers in the top 10: Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas' #01 Telmex Lexus-Riley in fifth position, Mark Wilkins and Burt Frisselle's #61 Exchange Traded Gold/AIM Autosport Lexus-Riley in eighth position, and Shane Lewis and new co-driver Guy Cosmo's #3 PLP Lexus-Riley for Southard Motorsports in ninth. For Lewis and the PLP team, it marked their top qualifying effort of the season.
The Birmingham race itself ended with Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas ending the race in the same fifth position they stared with, followed by a pair of Michael Shank Racing Lexus-Rileys: Oswaldo Negri and Mark Patterson combined for a sixth-place finish in the #60, while their teammates John Pew and Ian James placed seventh in their Playboy-sponsored #6 car.
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