24 HOURS OF DAYTONA

Name: 24 Hours of Daytona
Start: 2027-01-28
End: 2027-01-31
Location: Daytona International Speedway

Late January · Daytona International Speedway · Twenty-Four Hours · Since 1962 · Motor

Arranged by the Court

Sports cars racing through the night at Daytona International Speedway, at 24 Hours of Daytona — I · The Night

Dates: 28 to 31 January 2027
WhereDaytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach
DressSmart casual
AdmissionOpen to the public
The weatherIn January Daytona Beach reaches about 69°F by day and 49°F at night, and rain falls on about one day in four.
The tableThe Court dines afterwards at Aunt Catfish's on the River, 4009 Halifax Drive, Port Orange (auntcatfishontheriver.com).
In companyA member who means to go says so to the Secretary, and the Court seats its members together where the engagement allows.RSVP tells the Secretary that a member means to attend. Send passes the engagement’s name, its date and the address of its page to whomever the reader chooses, or, on a computer, copies the address; the Court itself sends and keeps nothing.RSVP

The Rolex 24 is a day and a night of sports car racing at Daytona at the end of January, and the first major motor race of the American year. Cars cover more than two thousand miles. Many of them do not finish.

More than a hundred and eighty thousand people came over four days in 2026, a record, and most of them watch from inside the circuit rather than from the grandstands.

The green flag at the start of the 24 Hours of Daytona at Daytona International Speedway — II · The Green Flag

The Race

Bill France built the speedway in 1959 and wanted European endurance racing on it. The race he devised for that purpose was first run in 1962 over three hours. It became a twenty-four hour race in 1966.

The course is a hybrid. Three and a half miles made from part of the NASCAR tri-oval and a twisting infield section, twelve turns in all. Cars come off banking of thirty-one degrees at very high speed and immediately have to brake for a corner, which is what makes the place hard on machinery.

In that first race Dan Gurney led comfortably until his engine failed with minutes remaining. The rules then required a car to cross the line after the full duration to be classified. Gurney stopped at the top of the banking, waited, and let gravity roll him down and over the line to win.

Cars on the grid before the start of the 24 Hours of Daytona at Daytona International Speedway — III · The Grid

The Watch

The Rolex Cosmograph Daytona is named after this place, and not the other way round.

The connection goes back to February 1933, when Sir Malcolm Campbell set a land speed record of two hundred and seventy-two miles an hour on the sand at Daytona Beach wearing a Rolex. The company has been attached to the town ever since, and took the title sponsorship of the race in the early nineties.

Every winning driver in every class receives a steel Daytona, engraved. Drivers who have won say the watch matters more to them than the trophy, and they are not being polite when they say it.

A crew working in the pit lane during a driver change at the 24 Hours of Daytona, Daytona International Speedway — IV · The Pit Lane

What to Know

The race starts in the early afternoon and finishes at the same hour the following day. The interesting part is between two and six in the morning, when the crowd has thinned, the cars are on their third set of drivers, and the track has cooled enough to change how they behave.

Most people watch from the infield. There is a campsite in the middle of the circuit with a culture of its own. The grandstands are quieter and the view is worse.

The paddock is open in a way no other race of its standing allows. You can stand a few feet from the cars and the crews between stints.

Bring something warm. Florida is cold at four in the morning and nobody expects it to be.

The mistake is watching the start and going to bed. The race is decided in the dark, and everyone who tells you about it afterwards will be telling you about the night.

Questions

When is the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2027?

The Speedway lists the Rolex 24 At Daytona for 28 to 31 January 2027, with the race itself on Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 January. The Roar Before the Rolex 24, the practice weekend that serves as the final rehearsal, runs from 22 to 24 January.

How do you get tickets to the Rolex 24?

The Speedway sells 2-Day admission, Saturday and Sunday, and 4-Day admission, Thursday to Sunday, which it recommends; both include the Roar Before the Rolex 24, and the 4-Day ticket adds the autograph session, the Fanzone and Garage Access. As of October 2026, tickets for 2027 are on sale on its site; hospitality and parking are sold separately.

What can you bring to the Rolex 24?

Guests may bring their own sealed food and drink, alcohol included, but nothing in glass. Each person may carry two bags of up to 18 by 18 by 14 inches and one soft-sided cooler of up to 14 by 14 by 14 inches. Everything is inspected at the gates, and a valid ticket allows leaving and re-entering.

What should you wear to the Rolex 24?

The Speedway publishes no dress code. The Court wears smart casual, and brings something warm for the night, since Florida is cold at four in the morning.

A prototype and two GT cars on the banking at night during the Rolex 24 at the 24 Hours of Daytona at Daytona International Speedway — V · The High Banks at Night

The Court

The Rolex 24 is not the Court’s own. Paddock access, suites above the start line and places in the infield are sought on a member’s behalf, and the Court arranges the whole of it: getting there, where to stay, and the table afterwards. Rooms are scarce because the race falls inside Speedweeks and the town stays busy for a fortnight.

How one becomes a member is set out under Admission.