Californian sports car expert Craig Stanton will make his 2004 Grand-Am Cup Series debut at this weekend's Daytona 250 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.

The Long Beach-resident will race the No. 44 Porsche 996 Grand-Am Cup entry for TheRaceSite.com Racing Team owned by the Nonnamaker family in the series' season-opener and in a number of events throughout the year.Stanton, lead driver of the No. 16 AASCO Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cupentry in the Rolex Series, will co-drive with Terry Borcheller,Gainesville, Ga., in the highly competitive Grand Sport (GS) class. The250-mile (70-lap) race is scheduled to start at 2:30 PM (eastern) onFriday, January 30.Stanton anticipates an excellent opportunity to fight for the overallrace win. "I'm very excited about running for the Nonnamakers in theGrand-Am Cup. The family has been around this series for years. Theyhave the Grand-Am Cup format down to a tee. I'm also looking forward torunning with Terry. We've been friends for a number of years and havebeen trying to team-up for almost that long. The Grand-Am Cup is verycompetitive and offers exciting racing. I'm eager to jump in the No. 44Porsche and go for a win."The legendary Porsche brand is a familiar mount for Stanton. His skillis used behind the wheel of the German sports car under the AASCOMotorsports banner in the Grand-American Rolex Sports Car Series in SGSclass and in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) for PetersenMotorsports/White Lighting Racing."I've been a Porsche driver for a long-time now," said Stanton who wonthe Road America 500 last year in a 911 GT3 RS. "I obviously haven'tdriven the 996 in Grand-Am Cup trim but a Porsche is a Porsche. Thegreat thing about a Porsche is that you know you are going to have afast and reliable car that you can race like it is qualifying. So,whether I'm driving a 911 GT3 RSR for Petersen/White Lightning, a 911GT3 Cup for AASCO or this Porsche 996, I know I have a winning car underme."Since moving from moto-cross/super-cross to automobiles in 1986, Stantonhas positioned himself as one of the premier drivers in sports carracing. A desire to win in all kinds of machines has led to drives inclosed and open cockpit sports cars, sedans, NASCAR stock cars, openwheel formula cars and midgets and in off-road competition. He has wonthree championships and a Driver of the Year award in Sports Renault andis the 1997 Speedvision Cup Rising Star Award winner. Stanton begancompeting in the top echelon of sports car racing in 1999 with rides inboth the ALMS and USRRC. He takes his fitness training very seriouslywith the goal of being the fittest race driver in the world and hascompeted in 27 triathlons in his career.