When Lithia bought Canada's Pfaff Automotive in 2021, it got involved in racing

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Add the pinnacle of sports car racing to the list of places in which you can see the impact of dealership consolidation.

Let me explain.

When Lithia Motors Inc. bought Canada's Pfaff Automotive Partners in 2021, it did more than just enter its first international market.

Lithia bought a group with stores representing some of the world's most exclusive and profitable brands such as McLaren and Porsche. Add in the fact that Pfaff's footprint was largely in the Toronto and Vancouver, British Columbia, areas, and it was easy to see why Lithia went north.

These were successful stores, so much so that Pfaff's McLaren dealership in Toronto was named McLaren Automotive's global retailer of the year for 2017.

But part of Pfaff's reach went beyond dealerships.

It also had a race team: Pfaff Motorsports. A storied one at that, having roots that date back to the 1980s in various series.

Lithia wasted little time taking advantage of the racing team's reach and a loyal, global audience that follows the International Motor Sports Association circuit.

In March 2022, Pfaff Motorsports' race car got a new logo: Driveway. It marked Lithia's first racing partnership, Pfaff said at the time.

Driveway is Lithia's online sales platform and a key component of its strategy as it looks to reach $50 billion in annual revenue by the end of 2025.

Driveway continues to have prominent real estate on the Pfaff race car's nose and doors.

For the 2024 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Pfaff switched to McLaren after five years of running with Porsche.

Even in the sea of race cars with vibrant colors and wild paint schemes here at Daytona International Speedway for the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona, the No.9 McLaren, with its unique combination of papaya and plaid, stood out.

The annual race — one of the most prestigious events on the racing calendar — began Saturday at 1:40 p.m. and ended 24 hours later.

Pfaff gear also seemed to be a popular choice among race fans in and around the massive track. Much of the merchandise had Driveway on it, too.

For Lithia, slapping the Driveway name on Pfaff's race car makes sense.

The series travels across the U.S. and has one race in Canada. Lithia, which continues to buy dealerships nationwide and abroad, is hungry to build Driveway's name recognition.

Of course, dealers and dealership groups having a presence in racing, let alone this series, is nothing new.

Penske Automotive Group Inc. CEO Roger Penske is known as The Captain for a reason, after all.

Lithia in 2021 passed Penske Automotive on Automotive News' annual list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S. based on new-vehicle sales to take the then No. 2 spot. And Lithia passed another rival to take the top spot in 2022.

To be sure, the sales rivalry between the auto retail giants doesn't directly translate onto the track.

Pfaff competes in the GTD Pro class, while Penske competes in the Grand Touring Prototype class.

Nonetheless, at a track such as Daytona, the pit lane is mixed among the classes.

The Pfaff and Penske pit stalls just so happened to be right next to each other, something I found humorous.

The two teams had wildly different outcomes in the 62nd running of the famed endurance race. Pfaff's No. 9 was forced to retire due to a mechanical failure from the race, while Porsche Penske Motorsports's No. 7 Porsche 963 was the overall winner. It marked Penske's first Rolex 24 at Daytona win in 55 years.

"To come back here and have both cars run for 24 hours, and then win the race, it's hard for me to believe," Team Penske owner Roger Penske said on a post-race broadcast. "This goes down as one of the biggest wins we've had."