The start of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season is right around the corner, with Daytona 500 qualifying and the two American 250 Florida Duel races scheduled for just days from now, and the 68th running of the "Great American Race" itself scheduled to take place in under a week.
We're still early in the week, but NASCAR fans have already gotten a dose of both good news and bad news in the build-up to the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval.
We'll start with the good news, because it's been a long time coming. Nearly two months after breaking his right femur after a fall during a December ski trip, RFK Racing's Brad Keselowski has been cleared to return to action.
After 53 days on the de facto "injury report", the official approval comes just two days before Daytona 500 practice is scheduled to commence. Had the injury happened any later in the offseason, that might not have been the case.
Though Keselowski is still seeking that elusive Daytona 500 victory, he is one of the sport's most potent superspeedway drivers, and he figures to be a threat on race day once again.
Speaking of race day, we have some bad news.
We don't exactly know when race day will be.
When it comes to the Florida weather, nobody knows anything, but what we do know is that the Daytona 500 hasn't been totally unaffected by rain since 2023, and rain has significantly impacted the race in four of the past six years.
Not ideal.
According to both The Weather Channel and AccuWeather, the chance for rain and thunderstorms this coming Sunday continues to increase significantly, to the point where the latter is already warning race fans to prepare for potential delays or postponements.
After three postponements of the preseason Cook Out Clash exhibition race at Bowman Gray Stadium due to snow last week alone, I guess the moral of the story here is to be careful what you wish for, especially after a season which saw zero postponements across all three NASCAR national series.
Of course, the forecast could very well call for sunny skies if we check again in a few hours. Again, this is Florida we're talking about here, where there's always a threat of precipitation and the skies could open up at any given moment – with rain or shine.
As of now, plan on tuning in to Fox Sports 1 for live coverage of practice and qualiyfing on Wednesday, as well as the two Duel races on Thursday. Fox is set to provide live coverage of the Daytona 500 itself starting at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 15. Don't miss any of the action with a free trial of FuboTV!