Wet Weather Halts 67th Daytona 500 After Just 11 Laps

Rain clouds move in Sunday at Daytona Int'l Speeday. (Jacob Seelman/Race Face Digital photo)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It didn’t take long for Mother Nature to rear her ugly head at Daytona Int’l Speedway Sunday afternoon as the 67th Daytona 500 got underway.

NASCAR Cup Series teams were able to complete just eight laps of the Great American Race under green-flag conditions before a line of afternoon storms swept into the Daytona Beach area.

As raindrops began falling in turns one and two, on the west side of the speedway property, race officials called the first caution at lap nine and brought the 41-car field down pit road minutes later.

The red flag was officially displayed at 2:20 p.m. ET with 11 of 200 laps complete.

Prior to the stoppage, the early action at the World Center of Racing was fast and frenetic, with three early lead changes among four different drivers.

Polesitter Chase Briscoe led the first four circuits, largely working the outside groove early with the help of fellow Toyota drivers Bubba Wallace and Erik Jones, before a big push from Ross Chastain on the low side gave defending Daytona 500 winner William Byron the top spot on lap five.

But Byron didn’t even hold the point for a full revolution at that juncture, as he slipped high off turn four, allowing Ty Dillon to roar up the inside and lead at the start-finish line.

Dillon held serve there for three laps before Byron finally got enough momentum to take control, assuming command on the eighth circuit just before the yellow was displayed for the inclement weather.

At the time NASCAR brought the field down pit road to stop and cover the race cars, Byron was scored as the leader over Austin Cindric, Dillon, Briscoe, and Joey Logano.

The Charlotte, N.C., native said he didn’t do anything differently going into race day, even though he knew that wet weather would likely come into play at some point.

“I just prepared like normal, prepared for the race to happen, and whether everything goes per usual or not … it’s out of your control,” Byron noted. “A rain delay is just a brief pause and you just try to take your mind somewhere else for a while, but once we get going again [the race] is going to be the same pace and everything. Just have to get through this part.

“It was a weird situation there at the start. You want to keep your track position because you don’t know when the rain is going to come, but you want to save fuel also and not put yourself behind in that aspect, either,” he added. “Once that third lane got going, it was hard to save much fuel.

“We’ll just see how it all plays out when we get back [green].”

Briscoe tipped he appreciated the electric environment early and was “bummed” that the weather moved into the speedway area as quickly as it did.

“So far, so good; just wish the rain would have stayed away,” said Briscoe in the garage area during the early portion of the rain delay. “The atmosphere is always so unique at the Daytona 500; it’s a shame to have the rain dampen that energy a bit, but I’m sure it’ll be back when we can get going again.

“I feel way more comfortable with my race car than I did … at the start of this week, and everything with JGR is starting to feel more like home,” Briscoe added. “Those few laps were a little wild, but we’re in a decent spot and we’ll see what we’ve really got once the rain lets up and we’re back under green.”

Prior to the green flag, President Donald Trump led the field on two ceremonial laps after cars pulled off the pit lane, driving the armored limousine known as “The Beast” around the apron of DIS.

The president left the racetrack just before 3 p.m. ET, a half hour into the rain delay, to return to Palm Beach, Fla., aboard Air Force One.

When racing resumes, drivers will have 189 laps left to try and etch their name into the history books as the winner of the 2025 Daytona 500.

It takes roughly two hours to dry the 2.5-mile Daytona oval, and with rain not expected to stop until after 6 p.m. ET, a resumption of the race wouldn’t come until well after night has fallen at the World Center of Racing. Sunset in Daytona Beach is at 6:15 p.m. ET.

This year marks the fourth Daytona 500 in the past six years to be affected by rain. The 2024 and 2020 editions were postponed to Monday conclusions.