DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Think a stock car is hot inside the cockpit? Try driving a Daytona Prototype in the sweltering July heat at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
A Nextel Cup car at least has an inlet for air — as nothing but a net covers the driver’s side window — and reaches about 140 degrees inside. A Prototype, however, is completely enclosed, and Jimmie Johnson said it was the biggest obstacle for him to overcome in Thursday night’s Brumos Porsche 250.
“The difference is the temperature inside those cars,” said Johnson, the defending Nextel Cup champion. “So, so hot.”
He trains for steamy conditions.
“You can tell I’m all buff — Not! But I try,” Johnson joked.
It was a mediocre night for Johnson and co-driver Marc Goossens around Daytona’s 3.56-mile road course that uses part of the high-banked oval. He qualified the No. 91 Lowe’s Riley-Matthews Motorsports Pontiac Riley on the front row and drove the first stint. Goossens took over and ended up ninth overall.
“The car is far more advanced than what we deal with as far as the Car of  Tomorrow. They’re so high tech,” Johnson said. “The car is fun, and it’s exciting to drive. The circuits are fun, too. It gives us an opportunity to get out of the pressure of NASCAR points.”

• Grand Am got more good news at the midpoint of the 2007 season. Event attendance is up an average of 10 percent, and the announcement followed last week’s findings that television ratings, households and viewership ship on Speed are also up.
“We have no doubt that both jumps are due to the great racing on the track that our competitors continue to deliver at each every event,” said Grand Am President Roger Edmondson.

• The Grand Am community raised some $30,000 at the July 4 Frisselle Brothers Invitational Mini-Golf Tournament at Camp Boggy Creek in Eustis, Fla. Boggy Creek is one of the Hole in the Wall Camps founded by actor Paul Newman for children with serious illnesses. To date, Grand Am, its drivers and teams have donated more than $500,000.
For the record, David Donohue, a driver at Brumos Racing, won by one stroke over AIM Autosport fabricator Jason Willis. Brad Frisselle was third, beating sons Brian and Burt, who organized the tournament.