Daytona 500 weather delay: NASCAR drops red flag due to rain, expected restart time

The Daytona 500 is under a red flag currently as rain has come down at the track. Another NASCAR Cup Series season starting with a shower. President Donald Trump is in attendance. All eyes are on the sport today, and once again weather is a factor.

Hopefully, this is a brief delay. We don’t need the great momentum from this weekend to get ruined because of a shower or two. The Cup Series has already had 12% bumps on qualifying night and Thursday night for the Duel races.

So many drivers will have a chance to win tonight. As long as this track isn’t lost, we should be able to finish things up tonight instead of pushing the rest of the race to Monday.

UPDATE: Drivers were told to return to their cars at 5:25 PM EST. This race should get going very soon.

A thin band of rain is set to come through Daytona Beach. Jeff Gluck of The Athletic explained the plan NASCAR has for tonight.

“NASCAR expecting it to rain for a while (2-3 hours?) … After it clears, they’ll try to dry the track (2-2.5 hours typically) and get the race in. … Possible late night ahead.”

Here's the rain delay plan at the #DAYTONA500:

— #NASCAR expecting it to rain for awhile (2-3 hours?)

— After it clears, they'll try to dry the track (2-2.5 hours typically) and get the race in.

— Possible late night ahead. Gonna try and nap in my car now, see ya later.

— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) February 16, 2025

If there are two hours of rain and another two hours of track drying, we’re looking at four to five hours of delay before we get back to racing. Daytona has lights, there is a possibility to finish the race tonight.

We could be in for a long Sunday night, folks. Get prepared for a big delay followed by track drying.

NASCAR puts Daytona 500 on hold due to rain

So, we’re looking at 7:00 or 8:00 PM EST and that is if the rain moves out and track drying goes well. We’ve only completed 11 total laps. Nothing has really happened yet. The prerace ceremonies with President Trump took up quite a lot of time.

I will say that OX has been doing well with the prerace. The videos and highlights they showed, and the interviews with drivers, were all solid. They have done a great job of making this feel like the big event it should feel like.

There is an optimistic outlook that this rainstorm is going to pass quicker than two hours. With the wind being so strong, it could push the storm out within the hour. That would be fantastic for the Daytona 500 and the fans watching.

Let’s hope for that storm to pass quickly and get back to racing at Daytona.