Rain pushes Daytona 500 to Monday in first outright postponement since 2012

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — NASCAR has postponed the season-opening Daytona 500 until Monday because of two days of rain at Daytona International Speedway.

The race was scheduled to begin Sunday afternoon but amid heavy doubts that the green flag would wave on time, if at all. The final practice for the event was canceled Saturday, as was the Xfinity Series race.

The Xfinity Series race is now scheduled to be held Monday morning, hours ahead of the 4 p.m. start time for the Daytona 500.

Joey Logano is set to start from the pole for Team Penske when the race is run.

The last time the Daytona 500 was postponed a full day was in 2012. NASCAR completed 20 laps in 2020 before rain halted activity, and the race resumed the next day.

In making the early call Sunday, NASCAR prevented fans from sitting in the rain awaiting a decision on whether the race would proceed. It continued a willingness NASCAR first exhibited earlier this month when it moved the exhibition Clash at the Coliseum up one full day on little notice because of poor weather headed toward Los Angeles.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing