Rain pushes NASCAR Xfinity Series race to Monday as Sunday’s Daytona 500 could also get postponed

NASCAR will have at least one race on Monday.

The sanctioning body announced late Saturday afternoon that the second-tier Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway had been postponed to Monday because of persistent rain. The race was scheduled to begin after 5 p.m. ET on Saturday. It will now begin at 11 a.m. ET on Monday.

Rain arrived mid-day on Saturday and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. Barring a drastic change in the forecast, a regularly-scheduled Daytona 500 on Sunday is not going to happen. The race is scheduled to begin shortly after 3 p.m. ET on Sunday.

It’s expected to rain the rest of Saturday and through the entirety of Sunday. Hourly rain chances for the Daytona Beach, Florida, area are over 80% until Sunday evening and don’t drop below 50% until the early hours of Monday morning.

If the season-opening Cup Series race is delayed by rain and can’t be run on Sunday, it’s likely to be run after the Xfinity Series race on Monday. The Xfinity Series race is scheduled early enough for plenty of time for the 500 to be run afterward.

The Daytona 500 has been plagued by rain in recent seasons. The 2020 race was delayed until Monday and the 2021 race finished late Sunday night because of rain.

The threat of rain has loomed for the entire week leading up to the 500. NASCAR moved Saturday afternoon’s ARCA race to late Friday night after the conclusion of the Truck Series race to ensure that the fourth-tier series would get its race complete and teams wouldn’t be forced to stay in Daytona for multiple more days. The ARCA race finished early Saturday morning after it combined with the Truck race to feature 21 cautions over 180 scheduled laps of racing between the two events.

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