NASCAR didn’t wait very long to postpone the Daytona 500.
The sanctioning body announced Sunday morning that the race was pushed to Monday at 4 p.m. ET from its originally scheduled 3 p.m. ET start on Sunday. Rain began falling in Daytona Beach on Saturday and is expected to continue throughout the day on Sunday. The race will be televised on Fox.
The decision to postpone the 500 was an exceptionally quick one. NASCAR typically waits as long as it can to postpone the race. But the forecast basically tied NASCAR’s hands on this one. Waiting throughout the day on Sunday was very likely going to be futile. And pushing the race to Monday as soon as possible is the prudent move to prevent fans from coming to the track simply to wait around in the rain.
The postponement is the third significant delay for the Daytona 500 in the past five seasons. The 2020 Daytona 500 concluded on Monday after rain stopped the race shortly after it began and the 2021 Daytona 500 ended late Sunday night because of rain.
It also means that NASCAR will run two races on Monday. Saturday’s Xfinity Series race was postponed to Monday at 11 a.m. ET after the rain began. Saturday’s fourth-tier ARCA Series race was pushed up to late Friday night after the Truck Series race to ensure that it wasn’t delayed as well.
Monday’s forecast is a lot better than Sunday’s. Rain is expected to taper off overnight into Monday morning as skies clear in the afternoon. While there’s a chance that rain could linger long enough to delay both races a bit, the forecast looks good enough for both races to be run to their scheduled distances. If and when both races are run on Monday, it will be the first time in Speedweeks history that two races have been run on a Monday.
Joey Logano is set to start the Daytona 500 from the pole position whenever the race does begin. It’s Logano’s first career Daytona pole. The two-time Cup Series champion won the 2015 Daytona 500.
