NASCAR: 5 things for new fans to know for the Daytona 500

New NASCAR fans Daytona 500 guide: No. 3 – Rain

NASCAR is unlike any sport in that fact that a little rain can put the drivers’ lives at risk. Unlike your car that you drive to work, these cars have tires with no tread. If they happen to drive on a wet surface going around 200 miles per hour, it could end poorly. Therefore, NASCAR has rules for different weather situations.

If NASCAR deems the track too wet to continue, they will call for a delay. During this delay, the cars must park in pit lane and wait for jet dryers to dry the track. This could take hours, like we saw last year only 15 laps into the race. If you see the jet dryers come onto the track, this is a good time to get up, take a break, and grab another cold one!

Lightning has its own set of rules in NASCAR. If there is any lightning within an eight-mile radius of the track, all action must stop for 30 minutes. If there is more lightning during those 30 minutes, the clock resets.

Last year’s Daytona 500 really put the rain rule to work. After the lap 15 wreck, rain started. It was a very heavy and long rainstorm that came through, and it took the drying crew roughly six hours to completely dry the track.