What I Was Thinking When We Won Daytona

We’re back! And one of our co-hosts just won the 2025 24 Hours of Daytona! We asked him to break it all down—moment by moment, all the ups and all the downs of that famous race. His name is Jeff Braun, he’s the competition director for the IMSA Corvettes of Toronto’s AWA Racing, and he’s won Daytona twice before. We’re dang proud of him. AWA’s win at Daytona this year marks the first 24-hour win anywhere for the Corvette GT3 car. It’s also the first time in decades that a privateer Corvette has won the race. This show changes format weekly, because squirrel. We call this format “Ripped From the Headlines.” Which might sound a little tawdry, but hey, Sam wrote it, so there you go. RELATED TRIVIA: Hey, it’s a show again! It’s Not the Car took a short hiatus just after Christmas, but our second year starts here. Thanks to all of you who emailed to check in and ask when we were coming back—it means a lot! This episode was produced by Mike Perlman. ** Who We Are + Spicy Merch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.ItsNotTheCar.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ** Support It’s Not the Car: Contribute on Patreon ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠We’re back! And one of our co-hosts just won the 2025 24 Hours of Daytona! We asked him to break it all down—moment by moment, all the ups and all the downs of that famous race. His name is Jeff Braun, he’s the competition director for the IMSA Corvettes of Toronto’s AWA Racing, and he’s won Daytona twice before. We’re dang proud of him. AWA’s win at Daytona this year marks the first 24-hour win anywhere for the Corvette GT3 car. It’s also the first time in decades that a privateer Corvette has won the race. This show changes format weekly, because squirrel. We call this format “Ripped From the Headlines.” Which might sound a little tawdry, but hey, Sam wrote it, so there you go. RELATED TRIVIA: Hey, it’s a show again! It’s Not the Car took a short hiatus just after Christmas, but our second year starts here. Thanks to all of you who emailed to check in and ask when we were coming back—it means a lot! This episode was produced by Mike Perlman. ** Who We Are + Spicy Merch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  / notthecar⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   ** Topic suggestions, feedback, questions? Let us know what you think! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ** Check out Sam's book! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Smithology: Thoughts, Travels, and Semi-Plausible Car Writing, 2003–2023⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ** Where to find us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  / intcpod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  / ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  / ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  / ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://rossbentley.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠... ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://speedsecrets.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ** ABOUT THE SHOW: It’s Not the Car is a podcast about people and speed. We tell racing stories and leave out the boring parts. Ross Bentley is a former IndyCar driver, a bestselling author, and a world-renowned performance coach. Jeff Braun is a champion race engineer. Sam Smith is an award-winning writer and a former executive editor of Road & Track magazine. We don’t love racing for the nuts and bolts—we love it for what it asks of the meatbag at the wheel. New episodes every Tuesday.