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NASCAR didn’t wait long to postpone the Daytona 500.
The sanctioning body announced Sunday morning that the race has been postponed until Monday at 4 p.m. ET from its originally scheduled start at 3 p.m. ET 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 exceptionally quick. NASCAR typically waits as long as it can to postpone the race. But the forecast basically tied NASCAR’s hands in this case. Waiting all day on Sunday would probably be futile. And delaying the race until Monday as soon as possible is a prudent measure to prevent fans from coming to the track simply to wait in the rain.
The postponement is the third significant delay for the Daytona 500 in the last five seasons. The 2020 Daytona 500 concluded on Monday after rain stopped the race shortly after it began, and the 2021 Daytona 500 ended Sunday night due to rain.
It also means NASCAR will hold two races on Monday. Saturday’s Xfinity Series race was postponed to Monday at 11 a.m. ET after it started raining. Saturday’s fourth-tier ARCA Series race was delayed until Friday night after the Truck Series race to ensure it would not be delayed as well.
Monday’s forecast is much better than Sunday’s. Rain is expected to taper off overnight into Monday morning as skies clear in the afternoon. While there is a chance that the rain could last long enough to slightly delay both races, the forecast looks good enough for both races to be run at their scheduled distances. If both races are held 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 starts. It’s Logano’s first pole at Daytona. The two-time Cup Series champion won the 2015 Daytona 500.