With a series of late yellows negating any strategy, victory in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac came down to pace in the final hour, which Louis Deletraz and the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-06 had enough. In the …
With a series of late yellows negating any strategy, victory in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac came down to pace in the final hour, which Louis Deletraz and the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-06 had enough. In the final hour, he passed Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 and, in a battle royale, Sebastien Bourdais in the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R to claim victory for himself, Jordan Taylor and Colton Herta.
The No. 1 Cadillac of Bourdais, Renger van der Zande and Scott Dixon was second, with Nasr, Dane Cameron and Matt Campbell third.
Era Racing, after a winless season in 2023, opened 2024 with victory in the 36 Hours of Florida, claiming wins at both the Rolex 24 at Daytona and now Sebring. Strategy after an early puncture and great pace got them to the front as Connor Zilisch closed out a victory for himself, Dwight Merriman and Ryan Dalziel.
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In less than a lap, Jack Hawksworth battled from third to the lead in the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 he shared with Ben Barnicoat and Kyle Kirkwood to claim a GTD PRO victory for the Vasser Sullivan Racing squad — a nice recovery from a disastrous Rolex 24 that saw them out of the race early. The defending champion had to get by Daniel Juncadella in the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R and then Daniel Serra in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 within several corners. Serra, Davide Rigon and James Calado were second. A late-race battle between Juncadella and Laurin Heinrich in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R sent Juncadella off track and out of the race, while Heinrich would receive a drive-through penalty, handing third to the Iron Lynx Lamborghini squad of Mirko Bortolotti, Jordan Pepper and Frank Perera.
There were two 36 Hours of Florida winners this year, as Winward Racing controlled GTD for most of the race. The No. 57 Mercedes AMG and drivers Russell Ward, Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje were near flawless all race to claim their second victory of the season. The No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Roberto Lacorte, Antonio Fuoco and Giorgio Sernagiotto were second, coming oh-so-close to following up Cetilar’s 2022 victory in the race. Elliot Skeer, Adam Adelson and Jan Heylen brought the No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche home third.
Vasser Sullivan Racing and Corvette Racing looked pretty evenly matched on pace in GTD PRO, so it was pit stop strategy and execution on which the Michelin GT Challenge for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship ultimately turned to the favor …
Vasser Sullivan Racing and Corvette Racing looked pretty evenly matched on pace in GTD PRO, so it was pit stop strategy and execution on which the Michelin GT Challenge for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship ultimately turned to the favor of the No. 3 C8.R and delivered victory at VIRginia International Raceway to Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia. The boost to their championship hopes was small, however, as Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth finished second in the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 and carry a 144-point lead into the final two races.
GTD, on the other hand, was another flag-to-flag romp for Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3, Snow taking a 12.187s victory over a fuel-saving Robby Foley in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3. In the process, the team set a record of five wins in GTD during a season, and all but clinched the Sprint Cup Championship, which would make them the first team to score back-to-back Sprint Cups.
“It’s amazing. It’s really wonderful,” said team owner Paul Miller. “I’ve just given everybody a hug on the team. It’s an unbelievable record. We’ve never won anything like that. We’ve never won more than one or two races in a season, so it’s crazy!”
Sellers and PMR even had the No. BMW in the overall lead after the first round of pit stops, but eventually the two leading GTD PRO cars would get back to the front, with Snow and Sellers finishing third overall.
In a race interrupted by only two cautions, and neither coming at a time when it would have any real effect on strategy, the first indication that maybe this wasn’t going to be a cruise for the polesitting No. 14 Lexus came after the first round of pit stops. Taylor took over the No. 3 C8.R from Garcia, dispatched Jules Gounon in the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes AMG rather quickly and immediately started knocking out fast laps. While Barnicoat would eventually take the fast lap back, it was an indication that Taylor had the bit between his teeth and intended to close the GTD PRO points gap to the Vasser Sullivan team.
Taylor’s first attack came as Barnicoat saw an opening to get by overall leader Bryan Sellers in Oak Tree. The move slowed Sellers enough for Taylor to also scoot past, but it also left Barnicoat vulnerable due to a lower corner exit speed. Taylor got alongside, had the inside line for Turn 14, but Barnicoat held the braking just a bit later and maintained the lead.
“I didn’t have a ton of confidence going there,” Taylor explained. “I think a lap before I braked kind of late and had a bunch of ABS interaction and almost hit the back of him. That lap I was going to be offline, so I wasn’t 100 percent confident that I would make the corner had I braked when he did on the inside. And yeah, he kind of did the exact same thing to me the last year when I had a similar run, so I knew he was going to go deep. At that point in the race, I knew had we got track position, it who would have transformed the race for us, but I also didn’t want to throw it away.”
Taylor would have to wait for the second round of pit stops to take the point. Corvette Racing brought Taylor in first, with just under an hour to go. The undercut strategy was compounded by the No. 14 Lexus stalling as Barnicoat was leaving the pits. He got it going quickly, and emerged from the pits ahead of Taylor; but Taylor was at full speed, and passed Barnicoat easily going into Turn 1. Barnicoat slid wide on cold tires, giving Taylor more of a buffer. Barnicoat kept the gap around 2s to Taylor until the end, but could never really close and attack, finishing second by 2.068s. It was a nice comeback from what was almost a sure win in the previous race at Road America, ruined by a penalty for insufficient fueling time.
“Pretty much that whole race I was pushing, even on the first cycle, just to close the gap to the Lexus and to see if we could make them make a mistake,” explained Taylor. “So when the [second] yellow came out, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen – those guys restarted really strong. The guys made an amazing call to kind of shortfill, get us out front track position-wise and then it was just down to saving fuel, managing tires and maintaining the gap. I was counting down the laps from about 25 to go, so I was very happy to see that checkered flag.”
The earlier stop left Taylor needing to save fuel, and he was denied his requested post-victory burnout because the team didn’t believe he had a sufficient supply to roast the rear tires and still get back to the pits.
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“It was amazing,” declared Taylor, whom his teammate compared to a Swiss watch. “That’s down to Corvette Racing, calling that strategy, getting us that track position. And then when they told me that fuel number, I was definitely worried. But the car was so good in fuel save mode, it actually helped me save the tires.”
The victory was the 115th for Corvette, 29th for Garcia and the 33rd for Taylor in IMSA competition as Taylor enters his final two races for the team. Next year he moves back to Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport to drive the team’s second Acura ARX-06 GTP car with Louis Deletraz. For Garcia, who moved the Corvette into second during the first stint, consistency was key to victory.
“Yesterday, we tried to do something different in qualifying, because everybody seemed to be so close,” he explained. “So that probably gave us some indication on how to set up for today and the car was pretty good. So I’m glad that during the first stint the car was where it needed to be. I was able to close to second. The Lexus was very, very strong today. So in a way we we kind of managed to stay in contention. We just had to be there and put pressure and at some point somebody will make a mistake, and it wasn’t us. Then Jordan worked really, really good for the rest of the race. Another great example of pure consistency and very, very well executed.”
Klaus Bachler and Patrick Pilet in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports was a distant third in GTD PRO. Their run was aided by a strategy that had the No. 9 topping off fuel during the second full-course caution, leading to a shorter second stop. But what really secured the podium for them was Bachler having a bit of contact with the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes AMG driven by Jules Gounon a little past the halfway mark of the race. The Porsche suffered minor damage, but the Mercedes needed a long stop to get bodywork back in a position so that the car could continue.
Jake Galstad/Lumen
For Paul Miller Motorsports, the dream season continues. Snow put the No. 1 BMW on pole in yesterday’s qualifying, and never faced a serious challenge during the first stint. Sellers took over the car for the middle portion of the race, and because PMR was one of the first teams to pit and thus took less fuel, Sellers had the overall lead with PRO cars giving him a buffer behind. A slight bobble in Oak Tree let Barnicoat in the Lexus and Taylor in the Corvette get through, but the No. 1 never faced any real threat from another GTD car, either while Sellers was in the car or when Snow took it back over.
“If there was a secret, I definitely wouldn’t be trying to give it out,” said Snow of the team’s success this year. “But it’s really the team. We just worked really well together. We’re always trying to improve, we’re always helping each other out. But having grown as a co-driver really makes that possible. And Brian doesn’t get nearly enough credit for
how hard he works and how hard he brings the whole team together, but also car setup and strategy and everything else.”
But Snow was the driving force behind the victory today, countered Sellers.
“What [Madison] has stepped up and done this year has been has been unbelievable,” he said. “Like today, he, pardon my language, but he really saved my ass today. I didn’t feel well all weekend and I had to tell him last night, ‘Listen, if I don’t get better, I’m going to need you.’ You just have that trust in him all the time.”
The best opportunity for any team to stop the PMR juggernaut was Inception Racing. Frederik Schandorff was charging in the No. 70 McLaren 720S and had the car up to second. But during the final round of pit stops, a wheel nut rolled under the car and a mechanic reached under to retrieve it. Doing any work under the car during refueling is violation of IMSA rules, and the team was handed a drive-through penalty. Schandorff got the car back up to seventh, but a far cry from what might have been possible.
It was a BMW one-two on the GTD podium as Robby Foley and Patrick Gallagher finished second in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport M4 GT3. Gallagher was saving fuel during his first stint, and like PMR, Turner brought both the No. 96 and the No. 97 M4 of Bill Auberlen and Chandler Hull into the pits after only 50 minutes, 15 of which had been run under yellow. The shorter fill time helped propel the No. 96 from sixth to third, and eventually into second as Frankie Montecalvo in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 faded.
It was nearly a full BMW podium, until Philip Ellis pushed the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG into third past Auberlen in the No. 97. The BMWs were clearly strong at VIR.
“I think it’s a combination of things,” said Sellers when asked why the BMWs were so good here. “The BMW was obviously fantastic today and Madison did a great job. You know, I think one of the things that fits it the most is the high-speed nature of the track. There are a lot of places where it’s small and tight and the cars struggles, but here at VIR, where it’s wide and sprawling, it really stretches its legs so we’re super happy to be a part of it.”
For third-place finisher Winward, it was a nice change for last year’s winners Ellis and Russell Ward. The team has had its struggles this season, so a podium was quite welcome.
The two caution periods were both caused by single-car crashes, the first coming only 10 minutes into the race when David Brule crashed the No. 92 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche 911 GT3 R in The Snake. The second occurred when Misha Goikhberg, attempting to get the No. 78 Forte Racing Powered by USRT Lamborghini Huracán back to the pits after a malfunctioning ABS system had sent him off course in Turn 1, lost the car under braking for Turn 14 and buried the Lamborghini in the tire wall. Neither driver was injured in their respective incidents.
Jordan Taylor is having a career year personally with involvement in the Garage 56 program, the NASCAR opportunities he had, and his continued involvement in IMSA with Corvette Racing. Taylor joins The Racing Writer’s Podcast to share how …
Jordan Taylor is having a career year personally with involvement in the Garage 56 program, the NASCAR opportunities he had, and his continued involvement in IMSA with Corvette Racing. Taylor joins The Racing Writer’s Podcast to share how overwhelming it’s been at times but what it’s meant to have his name spoken more in the motorsports world.
Corvette Racing’s Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia scored their first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD PRO victory since Sebring 2022 Sunday at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. On the other side of the Atlantic in Italy, their sister team …
Corvette Racing’s Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia scored their first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD PRO victory since Sebring 2022 Sunday at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. On the other side of the Atlantic in Italy, their sister team finished fourth in the FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Monza. Not a very remarkable result, but on the back of victories at Sebring, Portimão and in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it clinched the GTE-Am championship for Ben Keating, Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone with two races yet to run.
“A very good day. I don’t think it could have gone much better,” said Taylor after celebrating on the top step of the podium at CTMP. “We have our remote ops here as well, so during our pre-race meeting and warmup we were listening to their intercom and what was going on there. (Chief Engineer) Kyle Millay is usually on the WEC side, but he came here this weekend and they were still talking to him here during our pre-race meeting about strategy for there. It’s a team effort from both sides. Nicky texted us just now saying that they were on our intercom during our race. It’s one big family. They’ve obviously had an unbelievable year winning as much as they did – winning Le Mans and able to clinch the championship, so I think it was a good decision for Corvette to stay in the WEC to execute that championship and open up some doors for the future.”
GM Sports Car Racing Program Manager Laura Wontrop Klauser was at Monza to see the team linch the WEC title. In the second year of running a dual IMSA and full WEC program, it’s certainly a trans-oceanic success for the ages.
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“I can’t think of a better weekend for Corvette Racing,” Klauser declared. “A World Championship in the WEC and a race win in IMSA on the same day is something we all will remember. It shows how strong this program is in both series and how much both sides work together to get the most out of these Corvette race cars. I’m incredibly proud of both the No. 33 and No. 3 Corvette teams on this unbelievable day.”
Ben Keating, the defending GTE-Am champion who came on board the Corvette program for this season after WEC shelved the GTE-Pro class, is often lapping the No. 3 Corvette regularly in IMSA competition aboard the PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 car. But he is now part of the Corvette championship family.
“I’ve said it over and over, but in this championship and in each one of the five races we’ve had, it has been a true team performance overall. You win as a team and you lose as a team, but we’ve also been lucky in quite a lot of places. It’s just been a magical season,” he said, a sentiment echoed by Catsurg.
“Honestly, this season might have been one of my nicest in motorsport,” Catsburg said, who also wont he 24 Hours of Nürburgring, albeit with a different marque. “It has been so cool right from the start. It was always very relaxed with not a lot of pressure. Somehow the results just kept coming. I cannot deny that we have a great car, a great team and we have an awesome lineup. But we still need to execute, and I feel like we did that really well.”
For Garcia and Taylor, there is still the opportunity to produce a championship of their own. They are third in the GTD PRO points, although with a 109-point deficit to championship leaders Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth, it’s going to take a lot of luck in the five remaining races to achieve. For now, though, they get to celebrate Corvette Racing’s “unbelievable” day.
Former Wisconsin men’s basketball players Sam Dekker and Jordan Taylor just completed a championship winning season with London in the BBL.
Former Wisconsin men’s basketball players Sam Dekker and Jordan Taylor just completed a championship winning season with the London Lions in the British Basketball League.
Dekker (2012-2015) was a member of the Badgers’ teams that made back-to-back appearances in the Final Four in 2014 and 2015, operating as five-star recruit from Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
Taylor (2008-2012) recorded 464 assists during his career with the Badgers, finishing second in school history with that figure while his 13.0 offensive win shares is the most by a Badger.
In a great season with the Lions, Dekker averaged 17.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists while playing in 21 games during the BBL regular season, earning the league’s Player of the Year award.
When it came to the playoffs, Jordan Taylor was the former Badger who took a step up, putting up 15 points, seven assists and five rebounds in the BBL Championship. The performance earned him Finals MVP.
Meanwhile across the pond…
Awesome to see @dekker and @JMTaylor11 having success together as teammates for the @LondonLions in the British Basketball League
Dekker was the BBL Player of the Year, while Taylor was BBL Playoff Finals MVP pic.twitter.com/APuvv1LO2T
Jordan Taylor can’t sit still. Well, he might have the ability, but he doesn’t have the will. He could easily enjoy life as a championship-winning driver in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – first partnering with brother Ricky in their father …
Jordan Taylor can’t sit still. Well, he might have the ability, but he doesn’t have the will.
He could easily enjoy life as a championship-winning driver in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship — first partnering with brother Ricky in their father Wayne’s team to take the first championship for Cadillac in the Daytona Prototype international era in 2017 before following it up in 2020-21 with the final GTLM titles for Corvette Racing. But he’s also discovered a love of triathlon; he’s serving as “coach” and reserve driver for the NASCAR Garage 56 Project for the 24 Hours of Le Mans; recently competed in his first NASCAR race subbing for Chase Elliott at COTA; and expanding his social media enterprises.
“Race car drivers, we have a pretty easy life. We have a lot of free time,” he explains of his extracurricular activities, and triathlon in particular. “So we have a lot of time to train. You can train as much as you want to drive the race car but you only need to be so fit to drive the race car. So for me, doing the triathlons, having competitions … it’s another outlet to compete and compare yourself to others. And I would get very bored if I was training just to drive race cars, so I’m also now training to compete in triathlons as a hobby, for fun. It’s fun to schedule events throughout the year and see my progress — if I’m getting faster on the bike, faster on the run and fine-tuning those things.”
Jordan admits he’s always hated running, so running a marathon after swimming 2.4 miles and biking for 112 miles — the total distance of an Ironman triathlon is more than he’ll likely drive the No. 3 GTD PRO Corvette at the upcoming Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach — seems absurd. But he’s found the training process very interesting, especially tracking his progress.
It’s not an altogether different idea than developing a race car, something he’s been doing both with the new Corvette Z06 GT3.R that will make its competition debut next year and NASCAR’s Garage 56 project that will compete at the centenary 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. Jimmie Johnson, Mike Rockenfeller and Jenson Button will drive the car, with Jordan serving as the reserve driver. The Garage 56 entry for Le Mans is reserved for an “experimental” car that is not competing in one of the regular classes. As such, it has no defined rule set. While the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 started out as a NASCAR Next Gen chassis, the team has been free to make the necessary changes for it to perform well and endure the rigors of a 24-hour race. It’s an experience that Jordan doesn’t usually get in driving today’s race cars.
“These days, our cars are so homologated that there’s no development other than changing springs, changing bars,” he notes. “But you go there and you say, ‘It’s doing this wrong,’ they’ll develop a new part, they’ll go to the wind tunnel and do some CFD. That part for a driver is super fun, because you can see your feedback actually doing something and actually developing a race car. We’ll do a Sebring test, we’ll go to COTA and there’ll be new parts on the car to try. So for me, it’s super interesting to kind of see the engineering behind it as well.”
While Taylor is referred to as the “coach” for the Garage 56 team, he acknowledges that there’s not a lot of coaching to do with this crowd.
“I’m having a ton of fun, honestly, watching and, and hanging out. I mean, I’m definitely not coaching the drivers. I’m definitely more of a consultant role with giving a sports car perspective, especially from the GT side, of what to expect when you get to Le Mans, what we need to look out for. There’s a lot of logic in the dash like slow zones and pit speed limiters and traction control all that stuff that they’re not used to on the Cup side that I can help with. So that part’s been fun.
“That’s another thing — I’ll say we need something new on the dash for the driver to understand, next session out, we’ve got updates to the dash,” Taylor explains, admitting that he’s also learning a lot himself with the project.
“The people on the team side are super professional,” he relates. “It’s interesting to see how a team like Hendrick operates, all the procedures, debriefs, meetings. And then all the drivers are just incredible. Rocky, multiple Le Mans winner; Jenson, former world champion; Jimmie a seven-time Cup champion. So learning from those guys, seeing how they operate, what they focus on a car development is super interesting. And yeah, everyone’s just having a great time. There’s no real pressure for performance from an inner-team battle like there would usually be.”
The Garage 56 project gave Jordan an in with Hendrick, and the team a good look at him. So when they needed someone to fill in for Chase Elliott, out with a broken leg form a snowboarding accident, in the NASCAR Cup race at Circuit of The Americas, he was a logical choice. While he doesn’t have a lot of experience with the Cup car — the Garage 56 car is quickly becoming a different animal than the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 he drove at COTA — he qualified fourth. The race didn’t go the way he wanted (read Kelly Crandall’s story about Jordan “surviving” his first NASCAR race here) but he came away with a respect for the different style of racing than he’s used to in sports cars.
Taylor’s “Chase Elliott impression” at COTA may have been a mixed blessing, but provided him another set of experiences to draw on. Motorsport Images
Jordan is almost as well known through social media as from his on-track prowess. Sometimes as himself, sometimes as racing superfan Rodney Sandstorm (and sometimes his pooch Fonzie takes center stage), he’s become pretty adept at entertaining fans and promoting the sport through his posts. So obviously the next logical step was to create his own Discord group, @Sportscar4Lyfe. He was inspired by a triathlete he followed, and he notes the small community feel of triathletes and sports car racing participants and fans.
“He’s one guy that’s been able to capture a lot of the fan base, and he created a Discord server,” Taylor explains. “I went on it and it’s amazing how much interaction and conversation goes on between the fans and people becoming friends through it and going to triathlon events. And they’re hosting events and meetups and stuff like that. So for me, sports car racing has a ton of amazing, passionate fans and there’s no one place for them to kind of go and have conversations and gossip and talk about rumors; so I created it and it’s gone super well so far.”
He admits to not having a full grasp of how Discord works and what it could do, but fans have been leading him through it. And in only a few weeks of the group’s existence, people are having conversations and arranging meetups at races. At Sebring, Sportscar 4 Lyfe and Jordan hosted a wing-eating contest. He has more plans, such as 5k runs around the tracks or track walks with fans.
The server has only been up a day and we’ve already got some good banter going in the different sections of the discord. If you’re a fan of Motorsport, there’s a place somewhere in here for you. @Sportscar4Lyfehttps://t.co/NXcJPGipDKpic.twitter.com/0piLRqPEl6
“It’s just a way to get more behind the scenes and give the fans kind of what they deserve,” Taylor says. “I think once we start doing more events and word of mouth spreads, we should attract some more. And it’s not just sports cars. I know it’s called Sportscar 4 Lyfe, but we’ve got IndyCar, Formula 1, NASCAR … everything in the channel for people to follow. Everyone’s friendly on there. We haven’t had any crazy people enter it and cause any mayhem — although I’m sure that’s gonna happen at some point. I think it’s fun. We’ve got simulator stuff, people sharing their online racing. We’ll probably host iRacing series events, have our own little Sportscar 4 Lyfe championship. The options are kind of endless of what we do with it.”
“Endless” seems an apt description for what Jordan is eager to do, both in and out of motorsports, but particularly when he can help grow enthusiasm for sports car racing. There’s no doubt that the Taylor family has made an indelible mark on motorsports, and Wayne Taylor’s youngest son has been a big part of that.
It’s no secret that IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship star Jordan Taylor is a NASCAR enthusiast who has long dreamed of driving in a Cup Series race. For most drivers, if that opportunity ever arrives, it’s usually with a smaller team, perhaps …
It’s no secret that IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship star Jordan Taylor is a NASCAR enthusiast who has long dreamed of driving in a Cup Series race.
For most drivers, if that opportunity ever arrives, it’s usually with a smaller team, perhaps even a part-time effort. But when Taylor recently got “The Call,” it came from Hendrick Motorsports, the most successful organization in NASCAR history.
With 2020 Cup Series champion Chase Elliott sidelined several weeks by a broken leg sustained in a snowboarding incident, Hendrick needed to temporarily fill the seat of its No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Short-track ace Josh Berry was retained to contest the oval races that Elliott will miss, while Taylor was tabbed to race this weekend at the Circuit of The Americas road course.
While the circumstances are not ideal, competing in the Cup Series car at COTA is still an amazing opportunity for Taylor and gives him the chance to expand his relationship with Hendrick, which is fielding the Garage 56 collaborative entry between NASCAR, IMSA and Chevrolet at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. Taylor is part of that effort, serving as coach, mentor and potential relief driver for the nominated lineup of Jimmie Johnson, Jenson Button and Mike Rockenfeller.
It was the Garage 56 connection that convinced Chad Knaus, Hendrick’s vice president of competition, that Taylor was the best choice as the road course substitute for Elliott, who has quicky emerged as one of NASCAR’s top road racers.
“Super exciting, obviously, and very unexpected,” Taylor said of the NASCAR opportunity. “Obviously being involved with the Garage 56 thing, I’ve been working with the Hendrick guys for a few months. When I signed up with them, Chad said, ‘I know this (relief driver role) isn’t what you wanted, but just being involved, you never know what it may lead to.’
“I’m super thankful for the opportunity,” he added. “It’s definitely intimidating to go into the race weekend in one of the best cars, but at the same time, not that many guys get that chance to be in such a good car.”
Because the Garage 56 Chevrolet Camaro is heavily derived from NASCAR’s Next Gen Cup car, Taylor has some idea of what to expect when he slides behind the wheel this weekend. He’s also watched hours of in-car video footage and logged as much time as possible in the driver-in-the-loop simulator at General Motors’ Charlotte Technical Center in North Carolina.
Still, when he steps into the No. 9 on Friday afternoon, it will be a step into the unknown.
“If the race was in three weeks, I would have moved to Charlotte for three weeks and spent as much time with the team as possible to get as much of an understanding as I can and get ingrained with Hendrick,” Taylor said. “(Crew chief) Alan Gustafson and Chase are texting me, and they’re the guys I can bounce questions off to try and get an idea how close the simulator can be to real life and understand what the differences will be.
“I’m doing a ton of homework and preparation so when I get to the track, it’s just understanding how to drive the car,” he added. “The car couldn’t be any more different than the Corvette we drive, and even the Garage 56 car. I know a lot of people think it’s going to be close to that, but it’s seven or eight seconds in lap time difference around COTA. So, it’s a different animal.”
One advantage for Taylor is his familiarity with Circuit of The Americas. He raced IMSA prototypes four times at COTA, winning twice, and more recently participated in Garage 56 testing. He is also fortunate that because COTA is the first road course on the 2023 Cup Series schedule, NASCAR is allowing 50 minutes of free practice. At many tracks in the post-COVID era, Cup Series competitors often go straight into qualifying without any practice whatsoever.
“When I signed up for it, there was only going to be 20 minutes (practice time), and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, this is going to be insane!’” Taylor said. “Hopefully, they’ll give us a couple sets of tires, because it will be good to get a run, do a couple setup changes and get another set of tires to kind of understand how to use the new tire for qualifying, how the tires drop off and how to maybe manage them. That’s just another massive thing we’ve never experienced coming into the Cup Series.
“And honestly, the biggest part is understanding the pit stop procedure. I’m used to a pit speed limiter button; they’ve got to watch the dash. We tried that one time in the simulator, and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done!”
From Dan Gurney to Boris Said, NASCAR features a lengthy history of “Road course ringers” brought in for those rare occasions when stock cars turn both left and right. At COTA, Taylor won’t be the only road racing specialist in the field; Button and Kimi Raikkonen, both Formula 1 champions, are entered. So is seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Johnson, fresh off his recent IndyCar experiment and newly minted as a co-owner of the Legacy Motor Club Cup team.
Despite the combined pedigree of Johnson, Button and Raikkonen, expectations at COTA are somehow higher for Taylor. That’s what happens when you step into the championship-winning car normally occupied by NASCAR’s perennial Most Popular Driver.
“I know there’s a lot of hype about Raikkonen, Jenson, Jimmie and myself coming,” Taylor acknowledged. “I don’t even want to throw my hat in the same ring with those guys. I would be super excited to watch this race just to see how those guys would do against all the Cup guys.
“I know it’s a unique situation that I’m jumping in one of the best cars. If anybody has a shot of jumping in and figuring it out, hopefully it’s going to be in a Hendrick car. The only excuses are going to be the driver not figuring it out. That’s why I’m taking it so seriously and preparing as much as I can to hit the ground running.”
A former Badgers PG will be inducted into the UW Athletics Hall of Fame this fall:
Yesterday, the University of Wisconsin announced it is inducting 11 new members into its Athletic Hall of Fame for the class of 2022.
This class will feature nine former UW athletes, one administration member, and a special service member.
Among the notable athletes who will enter the UW Hall of Fame this fall is former Badgers point guard Jordan Taylor who played for the program from 2009-12.
Taylor, a Bloomington, Minnesota native, finished his collegiate career seventh on Wisconsin’s all-time scoring list (1,533 points) and second in assists (464).
His claim to fame came when he set the NCAA career assist-to-turnover ratio record, which still stands today.
Since wrapping up his career at Wisconsin, Taylor has enjoyed a ten-year professional playing career overseas.
You can read the entire list of inductees from the press release below:
Introducing the UW Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2022!
• Laura Abbinante • Cheryl Bailey • Travis Beckum • Monsignor Michael Burke • Hilary Knight • Jim Lemon • Erica Palmer • Carl Silvestri • Gary Suter • Jordan Taylor • Reggie Torian
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The La Crosse, Wisconsin, native’s historic offensive performance took me on a stroll down memory lane on other big-time individual scoring performances in program history.
So, here, in order, are the school’s top five individual scoring performances of the Bo Ryan and Greg Gard eras.
The 2012 Wisconsin Badgers did what the 2011 team also did: They made the Sweet 16. This marked the first time ever that Wisconsin reached the Sweet 16 in consecutive NCAA Tournaments, a definite forward movement for Bo Ryan’s program.
In order for Wisconsin to reach the Sweet 16 in 2012, it first had to get through the opening round against the Montana Grizzlies. This was an East Region game under the (then-) new pod system which had various teams playing in geographically proximate areas on the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Teams would then be funneled to the regionals in their proper geographic locations.
Therefore, even though this was an “East” Region game, it was played in Albuquerque at The Pit. Other teams from the Midwestern United States were higher up on the 1-68 seed list, which meant that Wisconsin had to be relegated to Albuquerque as the No. 4 seed. Vanderbilt was the No. 5 seed, so the Badgers — while not having home-court advantage — did not get placed in a site where the crowd would be heavily against them, either.
The complexity attached to this assignment, though, is that the Badgers played a first-round opponent which was, in fact, closer to the tournament site than UW. Montana had a shorter commute to New Mexico than Wisconsin. Given that Montana had won 14 straight games entering this contest, UW fans had reason to think this game could get tricky.
Jordan Taylor said, “Nope. I got this.”
Taylor was brilliant against Montana. Not only did he score 17 points, grab eight boards, and hand out six assists; as great as all those numbers were, he committed zero turnovers, perhaps his most eye-popping statistic.
Ryan Evans had 18 points and eight rebounds. Josh Gasser chipped in 12 points, and Rob Wilson added 10, but Taylor’s masterful control of the game at both ends of the floor was the main engine behind Wisconsin’s easy win. The Badgers led by 10 at the half and outscored Montana by 14 in the second half to cruise to the finish line.
