NASCAR changes Daytona 500 schedule due to weather

So far this weekend, the only NASCAR race at Daytona International Speedway not significantly affected by inclement weather has been the Truck Series season opener on Friday night.

The ARCA Menards Series race, which was scheduled to take place on Saturday afternoon, ended up being moved up to late Friday night due to Saturday's forecast, and the Xfinity Series race, which was scheduled to take place later on Saturday, was pushed back to late Monday morning.

Now the biggest event of the weekend and of the season, the 2024 Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500, has been rescheduled as well.

NASCAR postpones Daytona 500

The 66th running of the "Great American Race" at the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) has been postponed to Monday afternoon, following the Xfinity Series race. Given the ongoing rain, there was simply no window in which NASCAR could have dried the track, kept it dry, and fit the 200-lap race this afternoon -- or at any point today.

This marks the first Daytona 500 to be completely postponed since 2012, and it is surprisingly just the second Daytona 500 ever to be postponed. The 2012 race began on Monday night and did not finish until early Tuesday morning.

The race was contested on Monday back in 2020 as well, but that was only after it was started and stopped on Sunday. The races in 2014 and 2021 were delayed due to rain, with the latter not finishing until early Monday morning.

The Daytona 500s in 1965, 1966, 2003, and 2009 were all shortened due to rain.

Fox is still set to provide live coverage of the race from the "World Center of Racing". Coverage is set to begin at 4:00 p.m. ET tomorrow afternoon. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss the start of the 36-race 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season!