Meira hunting for Rolex Series ride.

Add Vitor Meira to the growing list of IRL IndyCar Series drivers and owners planning to compete in the Rolex 24 At Daytona.

Meira, whose runner-up finish in the Indianapolis 500 was among four second-place, finishes in IndyCar Series competition, finished seventh in the 2005 championship driving for Rahal Letterman Racing. He also has two career poles and 15 top-five finishes in 46 career starts.

"It's exciting, because this is something totally new for me," said the 28-year-old Brazilian. "I drove quite a lot of sports cars in Brazil, including a 24-hour and five 12 hours or 1,000 miles, but they were all in open-roof cars. I never drove something like the Daytona Prototypes, but I'm sure it won't take me long to get used to it.

"My goal is to be back here in the car for the Rolex 24. I want to run the 24 hours, I want to do a good job, then go back to IRL and start and finish a good championship, but this series is a good option, too, I'm also opening doors."

Indianapolis 500 winner and defending champion Dan Wheldon, 2005 IRL rookie of the year Danica Patrick, former IRL champs Scott Dixon, Scott Sharp and Tony Stewart, Indy 500 winners Buddy Rice and Eddie Cheever, 2005 race-winners Dario Franchitti and Bryan Herta, drivers Patrick Carpentier, Ryan Briscoe and Alex Barron, and car owner Adrian Fernandez are all planning to run in the Rolex Series opener. Cheever and Fernandez are also planning on running teams in the complete 2006 Rolex Series.

"There's so many great drivers here from so many different disciplines, the Rolex 24 has become a great draw for drivers to come to this race," said Herta, third-place finisher in the 2005 Indy 500. "It's the chance to race against, and test yourself, against guys in other series that we don't get to race against very often. It also gives me the opportunity to race with Buddy Rice, who I'm usually competing against."

Herta and Rice will share the #28 Finlay Motorsports Crawford-Ford with Michael Valiante and Rob Finlay, while Barron joins Memo Gidley and Michael McDowell in the team's #19 entry.

"This is a really good outfit, and it's going to give us a good shot here," Rice said. "There's a lot of real good people in the field, and that's what makes it so exciting, that so many people from different forms of motorsports around the world can join us here and do this one race. It's a lot of fun to come and do these deals. I'm glad it falls in a time frame where a lot of us can come here and do this."

"I love the Daytona Prototype," said Carpentier. "It's a fun car to drive, and I think I'm really going to enjoy it. Maybe this is where I'll end up racing this season."

Carpentier joins Cheever and Christian Fittipaldi in the #39 Cheever Racing Crawford-Lexus. The team also fields the #51 car for Tommy Erdos, Mike Newton, Warren Hughes and Stefan Johansson.