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NASCAR just can’t catch a break. For the second straight time it had to move its marquee event of the weekend to another day. On Sunday, the Daytona 500 was postponed until Monday afternoon because of two days of persistent rain.
The flag is scheduled to drop around 1 p.m. PST in the second race of the day. An Xfinity Series race originally scheduled for Saturday was moved to Monday at 8 a.m.
Two weeks ago, NASCAR moved the Busch Light Clash at the L.A. Coliseum from Sunday to Saturday night on just a few hours notice. There was no way the race could have happened Sunday because of the heavy rains that pelted California and continue to affect the area. The crowd on Saturday was minuscule despite free admission, likely dooming the Clash from returning for a fourth year.
No doubt, the crowd at Daytona on Monday will be smaller but still significant since many fans, who travel to the race in RVs, have to head home and can’t stay an extra day.
Even though the rain at Daytona was not heavy at times, there is no way cars at the 2.5-mile superspeedway can run because there is no tread on the tires, making racing a severe safety risk. In addition, drying such a massive piece of asphalt takes at least 90 minutes and likely more than two hours because of the cloud cover that blocks the sun. And if it starts to rain again, the process has to start over again.
This is the third time that the Daytona 500 has been moved to a Monday. In 2020, the race was stopped on lap 20 and resumed the next day. The race will be remembered for the horrific crash of Ryan Newman, who tumbled through the air down the track on the last lap. He walked out of a hospital two days later.
In 2012, the race was scheduled for Sunday, moved to Monday because of rain and then had more delays, including a two-hour one when Juan Pablo Montoya lost control during a caution and hit a jet dryer causing a fuel leak that erupted in fire.
Drivers are used to rain delays or in this case a postponement.
“It doesn’t do anything to my psyche,” said Chase Elliott, who has been voted the most popular driver in NASCAR for six straight years. “I don’t know what it does to others than having to be here another day or two.
“I think the biggest thing it changes is for the spectators based on who wants to come and whether or not they want to sit in the rain. For me, I don’t think it changes a whole lot. I’m here and we’re going to get this thing done whenever it is.”
Monday’s race will have the same television schedule with the Xfinity race on FS1 and the Daytona 500 on Fox.
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