Contract delays scuppered Kevin Magnussen’s hop♔es of securing a drive with Rolex 24 at Daytona race-winning outfit Action Express Racing. 

The Haas driver said he nearly joined fellow Formula 1 drivers Fernando💛 Alonso and Lance Stroll on the grid, but his his hopes of a deal fell thro🐟ugh when contract delays meant he ran out of time to finalise a drive. The Action Express Racing squad went on to claim a one-two finish at Daytona. 

"I think we just started the conversations too late and the💛 contract stuff got delayed," Magnussen told RACER. "We decided to call it off and wait for ඣthe following season.

"I don't think there's any difficulties i🔯n reaching an agreement. It's not a Formula 1 contract. Formula 1 contracts are quite complicated and ♉it's not going to be as complicated with a Daytona team, but it still needs to be right.

“The team I was talking to won the race! That w🍷as annoying. I mean, I'm happy for them but annoying that I didn't do it.”

Magnussen still wishes to contest the race and is targeting an entry for the 2019 race, adding he is drawn to th🀅e event by the opportunity of winning, as well as its positioning on the motorsport calendar. 

"That's what is exciting about those things. Daytona is a legendary race, a fantastic race that I would love to compete in and try and win. It's the same with Le Mans. I like what Fernando's doin🍎g at the moment – I really understand his desire to go and do those things.

"I wouldn't want to do it at the same time as Formula 1 but I'd love to do those things. You can't have everything and I wouldn't want to do all those things at once. But Daytona is so early in the year that you can do that without💫 interfering with all the other stuff that you do."