With almost 3 hours behind us, yup, just over 10% of the race, only one DP has had a rough go of it, falling about 30 laps behind with 80+ having been completed.  The Beyer 2 car never really recovered from the right rear blow out going into Turn 1.  The rest of the pro drivers were punching in 1:43s, implying a virtually dry line throughout the track.  The exit of the bus stop stays notoriously slick well after the rest of the exits are bone dry, but hopefully after our next driver's double stint (Brian Frisselle), the track will be safe enough to release our only heavy thumbed Pro-Am driver.

A short while ago Scott Pruett got pinched by a GT car turning ito Turn 3, forcing him to spin and a lap later a leading GT Corvette (07) missed the bus stop braking zone, free-styling it through the grass and forcing Scott to whoa up the 01, probably losing about 8 second in those two little incidents combined.

On Lap 82 a slow white Corvette backed himself into the rails, bringing out the 4th double yellow right when Valiante, almost 3 hours in the car, was running low on fuel.  Good racing gods for once. Perfect timing, quick driver change, blistering exit into the teeth of 3 other just-as-competitive DPs trying to own pit lane.  Brian Frisselle kept his foot in tit and the 59 Brumos Porsche, now with famous Hurley Haywood at the wheel, backed down.   Not only did we hold position, but passed the 99 Gainsco car in the pits.  Good crew work works miracles in long distance races.

The Wayne Taylor racing 10 Dalara Ford seems to be having radio problems and pitted twice for what seemed like interminable pit delays, probably unsettling Ricky Taylor's first stint more than a little bit.  They've slipped down to P14 among the DPs, not the normal place to find the SunTrust car, 2 laps down this early in a major race.  Burt Frisselle in the 60 car was P2 with Brian in the 6 car holding onto P3.  Frisselle family moment of pride.  Dario Franchitti in the 02 in the lead and Jimmie Johnson in the 99 Gainsco car providing the other bracket around our two cars.

Fraternal Frisselle fighting isn't explicitly encouraged, but when Brian passes Burt in the 60 car, exceptions are approved.  Jimmie Johnson moved Gainsco ahead of Nic Jonsson and was on a rampage to pull in the 6and 60 cars by the time 3.5 hours clocked by, still leaving 13 DPs on the lead lap.  Lap times have stayed in the 44s to 46s for a long time and staying on the dry line appears the only safe route to survival.  100 laps have ticked by already, so we're on a 600+ lap trajectory for this race, assuming a steady hourly stream of yellow flags.

Shouldn't have mentioned that color: boom and out comes the 5th double yellow on Lap 105 for an emotionally choked up GT parked off to the side of the infield that needed to be towed on in.  Gave us all a chance for a quick top up of fuel, back out in P2, with the 60 car needing a driver change, re-entering with John Pew in P7.  Right before this pause, Pro-Am drivers like Scott Tucker and Brad Jaeger were turning mostly 1:46s and 1:48s, about 3-4 seconds of the pace setting 02 of Dario Franchitti.

John Pew was doing an outstanding job holding off a herd of pro drivers breathing down his neck or many a lap ans seizing on an opportunity to drop a few of them as he braked inside a GT going into Turn 6, the inside line was marginally wet and the 60 car would slow down enough to make the turn, so he ended up parked up against the tire barrier, giving us all a tutorial about passing on a non-dry line.  It stopped raining several hours ago and still the leftover risks of the rainfalls are slinking around to surprise us.

With 19.5 hours remaining, I'm relaxing in a blue folding chair to match my new race suit, listening to AJ Allmendinger screaming in my ear about which parts of the track I'm allowed and which ones not.  It's time to switch off the Blackberry and get the heartbeat down for the next yellow or when the fuel runs out in about 10 laps.  Right now after about 129 laps, Dario Franchitti still runs out font, a place the Ganassi teams know well, Mike Rockenfeller in the V-8 Porsche # 9 in P2, Richard wEstbrook manhandling the BMW powered SuperLife # 95 up in P3 and our young hero Brian Frisselle not letting go of P4, despite heroic efforts by Justin Wilson in Ganassi's other BMW Riley, the 01, just 2 tenths behind lap after pressured lap.

More in quite a few hours.

_________________________________________