Is there a risk of a short-term date change in Daytona for the NASCAR Cup Series?
As always in Daytona Beach, Florida, there is indeed a risk of rain and thunderstorms Saturday night when the NASCAR Cup Series contests the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.
According to the Weather Channel’s forecast, which has changed several times in the week leading up to the race, the chance of precipitation at the 2.500-mile, four-turn, heavily banked oval track in Daytona Beach, Florida, is 50%, which is fairly normal for this time of year.
The 160-lap race is scheduled to begin shortly after 7:00 p.m. ET. The full starting grid can be found here.
A weather-related date change would certainly not be the first time for Daytona. Back in February, the Daytona 500 was postponed from Sunday to Monday and the 2022 summer race on the track was postponed from Saturday evening to Sunday afternoon, when the weather was still known to play a role and rain caused a pile-up in the first corner.
Even before the 2020 Coke Zero Sugar 400 was moved to the August final date of the regular season, there were problems with the weather. The July 2019 race was moved from Saturday evening to Sunday afternoon and ultimately had to be shortened due to rain.
Although this year’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 is scheduled to take place on the same weekend as 2020-2023, it is not the finale of this year’s regular season due to the three-week summer break taken due to NBC’s coverage of the Summer Olympics in Paris, France in July and August.
This year’s race is the penultimate in the 26-race regular season schedule, and both the regular season and the playoffs are expected to end a week later than last year.
The Darlington Raceway, which hosted the playoff opener with its crown jewel, the Southern 500, from 2020 to 2023, is set to host the finale of the regular season next Sunday evening.
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Tune into NBC this Saturday, August 24th at 7:00 p.m. ET for live coverage of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 from Daytona International Speedway. RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher is the reigning race winner. Start a Try FuboTV for free now and don’t miss any of the action!
