Daytona 500 Weather Forecast Is Ominous, And History Tells Us That Could Lead To Chaos

Don't know if you've heard, but there's some pretty depressing weather headed towards the great state of Florida ahead of Sunday's Daytona 500. 

The forecast ain't great. Frankly, as someone who's covered about 10 of these things, when it ain't great this close to the green flag, it usually doesn't get any better. 

It is Florida, so never say never, but … yeah, not great. 

Daytona is always a wild card when it comes to NASCAR and the weather. More times than not, it's an issue in the summer for the Firecracker 400. 

No, it's not the Firecracker anymore. But it is when I talk about it. Same with the Busch Series. 

Anyway, the Daytona 500 usually gets through unscathed. Usually. 

Still, there have been times – including pretty recently – when The Great American Race was postponed until Monday. Hell, it happened just four years ago. 

Remember 2020? I reckon we all should've known when the year started with the Daytona 500 being pushed to Monday that it wasn't gonna end well. And boy howdy, it didn't end well, did it?

While the 2021 Daytona 500 ended early Monday morning, the 2020 Daytona 500 didn't even really get going until Monday evening. 

It's still – arguably – the most memorable Daytona 500 since Dale Earnhardt died in 2001. 

Frankly, the downpour that came shortly after the green flag was just the beginning.

Will the Daytona 500 be postponed? Well, there's certainly precedent. 

Yep. That's right. For those who forgot, then-President Donald Trump gave the command to start engines for the 2020 Daytona 500. 

This was just weeks before COVID, and it was the start of an election year. Smart move for Trump to show up in Daytona, if we're being honest, and he was well received. 

I was there – anyone who tells you there was any booing is lying. Or they were watching the highlights on CNN. Either way. 

Anyway, Trump gave the command, and off they went … for about 20 laps. And then … rain. 

And it wasn't even really supposed to rain. Hell, it was a nice day! 

But it rained. 

And rained. And rained some more. 

True story: I got stuck in the infield under the stairs for about an hour around 7 p.m. just waiting for the rain to stop. Thank God for the Busch Light vendor under there with me. Not all heroes were capes, you know. 

The race got postponed until Monday evening – you're not wasting those TV ratings on a Monday afternoon – and they finally re-fired engines shortly after 4 p.m. First time a Daytona 500 fired up on a Monday since 2012. 

Anyway, it was a good race – your typical Daytona 500. The Big One struck with 20 to go – which was pretty much right on cue for this event – and the race was red-flagged again. 

When they finally got going, Denny Hamlin beat Ryan Blaney in a photo-finish, but nobody gave a crap. Not even sure they did. 

Not with what was going on right behind them. 

Daytona 500 weather will be an afterthought when the checkered flag waves 

Wooooooof. Not great. I've been to a lot of these things, and you knew pretty instantly that one was bad. 

Here's an insider tip: in the media center, you pretty much know when there's a serious situation when all the coat & ties start quickly moving towards the exit. That's what happened when Ryan Newman wrecked. 

After about 10 minutes, they all started gathering their things and heading towards the door. And it was quick. 

I walked out to pit-road just as the ambulance arrived to take Newman across the street to Halifax Hospital. When I got back to the media center, the muckity-mucks were on their way out. 

You knew things weren't looking great. 

So, I did what any reasonable NASCAR fan did that night – I snuck off to the dining room and slugged down a couple beers. Nothing to do but wait for the official word from NASCAR, so what the hell? It's certainly what Ryan Newman would've done. 

Finally, about two hours later, we got word that Newman was awake and responsive. It was the closest we'd come to a death around here in a long, loooong time. 

Hopefully, the closest we ever come again. 

But you never know. It's the Daytona 500 – the racing around here lends itself to some sticky situations. 

And that's the case, rain or shine. 

Point is, buckle up. I've seen some crazy weather weekends unfold here before. 

Chances are, when the checkered flag waves, it'll be a distant memory.