Another weather disruption for NASCAR: Storms halt Sunday's race at Daytona
After rain postponed the NASCAR race at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night, a storm drenching the speedway caused officials to bring Sunday's Coke Zero Sugar 400 race to an early finish.
On Sunday morning, the prospect of more thunderstorms prompted NASCAR to move up the green flag by 18 minutes to 1:04 p.m. EDT.
While the race started on time, lightning dangers from a nearby thunderstorm caused officials to display the red flag at around 3:20 p.m. About two hours later at 5:30 p.m. EDT, the Daytona International Speedway tweeted out that the race had been declared official. The race finished with 127 out of 160 laps completed.
The rain and thunderstorms developed south of the track and pushed northward.
Staying in the grandstands or under trees and canopies are dangerous places to be during a thunderstorm.
"An enclosed, hardtop, metal vehicle can be a safe place to avoid being struck by lightning," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.
Prior to the showers and thunderstorms, drivers and fans dealt with sweltering humidity.
Temperatures were in the upper 80s F early in the race with AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures reaching the century mark at the start of Sunday's race.
However, thunderstorms crossing the area have noticeably dropped temperatures.
NASCAR has been plagued with rain at Daytona this weekend.
Showers and thunderstorms moved into the area on Saturday afternoon and persisted through the evening hours.
Around 6:40 p.m. EDT, the Daytona International Speedway delayed the race due to thunderstorms, sending out the update a little less than an hour before the race was supposed to start. Almost two hours later, the race was postponed to Sunday afternoon.
Chase Elliott's crew pushes his car back to the garage area after the NASCAR Cup Series auto race was postponed because of rain at Daytona International Speedway, Saturday, July 6, 2019, in Daytona Beach, Fla. The race was rescheduled for Sunday. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)
Wet weather caused the Xfinity Series race to be delayed for over two hours on Friday night. Rain exited early enough for crews to dry the track and to allow that race to be completed.
This is the second week in a row that weather has plagued the Monster Energy Cup Series.
Last Sunday, severe thunderstorms halted the race at Chicagoland Speedway.
Download the free AccuWeather app to know when thunderstorms are threatening your community with AccuWeather MinuteCast®. Keep checking back for updates on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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