The closer race day gets, the worse the weather forecast seems to get.
A few days ago, the forecast for Sunday's 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway called for sunny skies. But the chance of rain has slowly increased, and now the forecast is as bad as it has looked all week.
The Weather Channel is calling for a 60% chance of rain throughout Sunday afternoon, with that chance rising to 80% into the evening, with a quarter of an inch of precipitation expected. AccuWeather, which has predicted an afternoon thunderstorm, has even specifically noted that "rain can delay or postpone the race".
Daytona 500 could be postponed (again)
Four of the past six Daytona 500s have been impacted in some way, shape, or form due to weather, and yes, that includes last year's, even though the 2025 season did not see a single postponement across all three NASCAR national series.
Three of those four races saw Monday action.
The 2025 race was started and then stopped due to rain, but it was resumed later on Sunday and concluded well before midnight. The 2024 race, however, was postponed to Monday entirely.
In 2022 and 2023, the race was run as planned. But in 2021, the race was started on Sunday, paused due to rain, and resumed on Sunday night. It did not include until the early hours of Monday morning.
And in 2020, the race was also started on Sunday, but it was halted entirely on Sunday due to rain. It did not resume until Monday night.
Should Sunday's race be postponed, Monday's forecast looks better, but it's far from perfect. There is a 50% chance of showers throughout the morning and into the afternoon, though a late afternoon/evening race does seem to be feasible.
Of course, this could all change, given the unpredictable nature of the Florida weather.
NASCAR has already had one race postponed this year, and the season technically hasn't even started yet. The preseason Cook Out Clash exhibition race was delayed by three days due to snow at Bowman Gray Stadium a week ago.
Fox's live coverage of the 68th annual Daytona 500 from Daytona International Speedway is set to begin at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 15. Be sure to begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action, weather permitting!