UPDATE 3:
Cars are rolling! We’re about to get racing once again in the 2025 DAYTONA 500.
UPDATE 2:
Well, the NASCAR Cup Series field is back to being parked on pit road.
Things were looking promising for a while: with the drivers returning to their cars, the engines got refired, and the cars returned to the racetrack. However, after some more pace laps and a cycle of pit stops, the red flag has returned in the 67th-annual DAYTONA 500.
NASCAR has instructed drivers to remain in their racecars, as they wait out this small cell of rain and hopefully get the track touched up so the field can return to racing.
Ryan Blaney is now the leader, after the No. 12 Ford Mustang stayed out under this pit cycle. Zane Smith is running in second place, with Riley Herbst, Jimmie Johnson, and Joey Logano rounding out the top five. William Byron, Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain, and Ty Dillon round out the top-10.
NASCAR Cup Series competition at Daytona will likely resume soon, barring any more precipitation.
UPDATE:
The precipitation has halted, the racetrack has been dried, and NASCAR has instructed all drivers to return to their vehicles and be strapped in at 5:25 PM ET.
The final 189 laps of Sunday’s DAYTONA 500 at Daytona International Speedway will resume shortly after.
It’s become a bit of an unfortunate trend in recent years, but the Daytona 500 has been impacted by inclement weather for the fourth time in the last six years.
Even with NASCAR’s decision to move the start time of ‘The Great American Race’ forward by an hour, the inclement weather scheduled to move through the Daytona Beach area on Sunday paid an early-afternoon visit to the 2.5-mile superspeedway.
All of the scheduled pre-race ceremonies, including those involving President Donald Trump, were able to be completed as planned, with the green flag waving for the 67th-annual Daytona 500 just after 2:00 PM ET.
The 41-driver NASCAR Cup Series field was successful in completing nine green-flag laps before the precipitation arrived. However, those nine laps were filled with lots of two-and-three-wide racing throughout the pack.
Chase Briscoe, who sat on the pole for Sunday’s 500-mile contest at Daytona, led the opening four laps of the event, before being taken over by Kaulig Racing driver Ty Dillon.
Defending Daytona 500 winner William Byron, driving the colorful No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, also managed to take a turn out front — and was leading at the time of the caution.
With the rain picking up in Turns 1 and 2, NASCAR was forced to red-flag the race, bringing the field down pit road to their pit stalls.
William Byron is the current leader after 11 of 200 laps, with outside polesitter Austin Cindric sitting in second place. Ty Dillon, Chase Briscoe, and defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano complete the top five.
Corey LaJoie, Ross Chastain, Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, and John Hunter Nemechek rounded out the top-10.
As of 3:15 PM ET, the rain is continuing at Daytona International Speedway, and looks to be continuing for a little while longer. With an additional two hours to dry the track, it’s likely that if the event resumes tonight, it will be under the lights.
