Wayne Taylor Racing in control of rapid Rolex 24 at daybreak

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Wayne Taylor Racing has control of the Rolex 24 at Daytona as the team seeks its second consecutive victory in the season-opening endurance race.

The No. 10 Cadillac DPi has had a relatively clean race and was in the lead as the sun rose over Daytona International Speedway early Sunday morning. The team has led most of the twice-round-the-clock race, which is on record pace.

Through 18 hours, there had been just four cautions and a green-flag run that began just after midnight continued into the morning for a new race record of 7 hours, 48 minutes without a yellow flag. The event is on pace to set new marks in total laps and miles completed.

The green-flag run was 280 laps, bettering the mark of 245 set two years ago.

The field this year — just 38 cars — is the smallest in 58 runnings of this event and the low car count has been credited as one reason for the rapid pace. With fewer cars on track, the chances of an incident creating a full-course caution have been dramatically reduced.

Conversely, the lack of cautions prevented several teams from gaining any ground after in-race hiccups dropped them into a hole. Team Penske had its first Acura crash four hours into the race, and even though it took just 45 minutes for the repairs, the No. 7 is still more than 20 laps behind the Taylor car.

There are only two cars on the overall lead lap, with JDC-Miller Motorsports in a Cadillac DPi the only outright challenger to the Taylor team with six hours remaining.

It’s been a tough go in Kyle Busch’s debut Rolex 24 as the reigning NASCAR champion got into his Lexus RC F GT3 with the car already a lap down. But “Rowdy” got AIM Vasser Sullivan back on the lead lap in a short 42-minute stint before he was pulled from the car to rest him for longer drives when the race was on the line.

The plan seemed to work as Busch and Jack Hawksworth kept the car in contention until a brake change took 10 minutes and dropped them seven laps off the pace in class.

Busch got back into the car as the sun came up over Daytona for his third driving stint.