The News
Saturday 07 of December 2024

Rain dampens NASCAR's final holiday visit to Daytona


AP Photo,Races cars sit covered and idle on pit road as track workers gather nearby during a rain storm delaying a NASCAR Xfinity Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Friday, July 5, 2019, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
AP Photo,Races cars sit covered and idle on pit road as track workers gather nearby during a rain storm delaying a NASCAR Xfinity Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Friday, July 5, 2019, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — It’s another rainy day at Daytona International Speedway as NASCAR prepares for its final holiday weekend race at the historic speedway.

NASCAR has run at Daytona during the July 4th weekend since 1959 but is abandoning that tradition in a scheduling shake-up next season. Daytona will instead host the regular-season finale in August, while the holiday weekend race will move to Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Weather in part made Daytona amenable to surrendering the holiday weekend — every day since the track opened Thursday has been disrupted by either lightning or rain. Cup qualifying for Saturday night’s race was canceled because lightning in the area prevented NASCAR access to inspect the cars.

The field was set by points, with Joey Logano scheduled to start on the front row alongside Kyle Busch.

Rain also delayed Friday night’s Xfinity Series race, won by Ross Chastain, for 2 hours, 35 minutes.