Rainy weather looms in Daytona Beach as the Daytona 500 nears

For NASCAR fans around the world, the week of the Daytona 500 is an exciting time. 

From qualifying on Wednesday, the duel races on Thursday and the Great American Race itself on Sunday, it represents not only the start of a new NASCAR season, but another chance for fans at the racetrack to experience history.

However, if you're in Daytona Beach this weekend, bring a raincoat. Daytona is infamous for rain and thunderstorms impacting its summer race, but the Daytona 500 has seen its fair share of weather delays as well, and Sunday could bring another. 

While the race has only ever been pushed to Monday twice (2012 and 2020, respectively) the Daytona Beach News-Journal is calling for a windy and rainy race day come Sunday, with rain chances at 70% and 25 mph winds expected, along with cloudy skies.

So what would a delay, whether it be a few hours or a full day, mean for the teams? While teams would not be allowed to work on their cars during a delay after the race had started, it would give drivers and crew chiefs more time to plan out possible strategies with teammates and fellow competitors. 

The good news, though, is that the weather is expected to be dry for both qualifying on Wednesday evening, as well as the duels on Thursday evening, ensuring that Mother Nature won’t impact who wins the pole or makes the show for Sunday’s race. 

Friday night’s Craftsman Truck Series race only has a 20% chance of showers, but Saturday’s ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series races may not be so lucky, with the forecast calling for a 50% chance of rain in the morning and afternoon and a 70% chance in the evening, when the Xfinity Series race would be finishing up. 

Saturday precipitation could also impact final practice for the Daytona 500, which is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. ET.

The weekend forecast ends with the previously aforementioned 70% chance of rain on Sunday for the Daytona 500, but Monday’s forecast is more favorable, with AccuWeather predicting just a 25% chance of precipitation in the afternoon. 

With NASCAR’s recent history of starting Monday races at or around noon ET time, a Monday running of the event would likely be unaffected by weather.

Hopefully, the weather clears up enough on both Saturday and Sunday for all on-track activity to take place as scheduled, but NASCAR will have some very difficult and interesting decisions to make if Mother Nature once more deals them a bad hand.