Daytona 500 Weather Report: Rain in Sunday’s Forecast
Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images. Pictured: Jet dryers dry the track at Daytona International Speedway
I wasn't planning on consulting the Daytona 500 weather report this early.
In general, I typically wait until within 48 hours of an event before trying to draw meaningful conclusions from weather forecasts.
However, the Daytona 500 weather report has gotten progressively worse as we near the weekend, so it makes sense to go ahead and dig into the latest data.
We'll continue to monitor Daytona 500 weather over the next few days, but here's what's concerning about the forecast for the Great American Race right now.
Daytona 500 Weather Report
According to the National Weather Service, rain is expected to move into Daytona, Fla., early Saturday afternoon, and that rain could be heavy at times.
Specifically, there's an 80% chance of rain Saturday, which certainly puts the NASCAR XFINITY Series race, which is scheduled to start at 5:20 p.m. ET, in jeopardy.
The rain is then expected to continue into Sunday, with a 70% chance throughout the day.
Finally, conditions begin to dry out Sunday night based on the latest forecast.
When it comes to the Daytona 500 specifically, heavy rain Saturday that leads into Sunday afternoon could threaten the 2:30 p.m. ET green flag.
However, if the weather improves and NASCAR is able to dry the track, Daytona International Speedway has lights, providing officials an opportunity to run late into Sunday night, if needed.
Monday's weather does look promising, with no rain and partly sunny conditions in the forecast, providing optimism should NASCAR need to postpone the Daytona 500 if the precipitation is simply too overwhelming Sunday.
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