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CUP: Rain Threatens Daytona 500
Coastal Florida forecasts calls for 70 percent chance of rain today…
Mike Hembree  |  Posted February 26, 2012   Daytona Beach, FL
NASCAR fans with umbrellas at Daytona International Speedway wait for the Daytona 500. Start time is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. (ET). (Photo: LAT Photographic)
After a Speedweeks largely untouched by poor weather, Daytona 500 race day dawned Sunday with dire predictions of race-time precipitation.

Forecasters are calling for a 70 percent chance of rain in the Daytona Beach area this afternoon, and most forecasts call for precipitation at or about the scheduled 1:15 p.m. (ET) start time of the race.

Daytona International Speedway has lights, so the race could be started into the evening hours, but tonight’s forecast calls for a 50 percent chance of rain.

The race’s rain date is Monday, when the forecast includes a 50 percent chance of scattered thunderstorms.

Although the 500 has been shortened by rain and the start has been delayed over the years, it has never been postponed beyond its scheduled day.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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