Daytona 500 weather forecast 2026: Rain showers could affect Sunday's NASCAR season-opener race

Weather remains a wildcard that could throw a caution before drivers see the green flag at the 2026 Daytona 500 this Sunday at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Scattered showers and thunderstorms are possible during the afternoon, with rain chances increasing through the 2:30 p.m. ET start window, according to Weather.com.

The Great American Race -- NASCAR's crown jewel and traditional season opener -- concludes Speedweeks with practice Tuesday morning, followed by single-car qualifying Tuesday evening at 8:15 p.m. ET. Duels, additional practices and support-series races build toward Sunday's marquee event, which officially begins with pre-race festivities and then the 200-lap, 500-mile contest.

That timing could place the race in the path of an area of low pressure expected to move across the southern United States this weekend. Weather.com reports the system may bring showers and storms from Texas to Florida, though forecast models remain split on whether the heaviest rain will track far enough south to directly affect Daytona Beach. Some guidance keeps the speedway mostly cloudy but dry, while others bring showers into the area during the afternoon hours, leaving teams and fans in wait-and-see mode.

Weather interruptions are hardly new to the Daytona 500.

The Daytona 500 has seen multiple weather disruptions in recent years. Since 2010, rain forced postponements to the following Monday in 2020 and 2022, with the 2021 race finishing after midnight as a result of delays. Last year's race was delayed nearly three hours before William Byron won the second of this back-to-back Daytona 500s. 

The most unusual weather-related interruption came in 2012. Rain initially postponed the race to Monday, but the drama did not end there. During the event, Juan Pablo Montoya crashed into a jet dryer under caution, igniting a fiery scene that further delayed the race and forced it to finish early Tuesday morning -- the only Daytona 500 to conclude on a Tuesday.

Rain has even shortened races entirely. The 2003 and 2009 Daytona 500s were both called after the halfway mark because of weather. In total, only four Daytona 500s in history have failed to run the full distance due to rain.

This season already provided a reminder of how disruptive weather can be. Earlier this month, NASCAR's Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was postponed from Feb. 1 to Feb. 4 after a massive winter storm brought more than eight inches of snow to the region. The preseason exhibition race took three and a half hours to complete with 17 caution flags slowing the field amid a lingering wintry mix.