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Cancellations and Rescheduling: All the Fallout from Daytona Weekend’s Rain Delays

DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 18: NASCAR fans are seen outside of the Daytona International Speedway after the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 was postponed due to weather on February 18, 2024 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

Joshua Lipowski

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Royal T Grafix

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What’s Happening?

The Daytona 500 weekend was swamped up in a rainstorm for most of the weekend. This caused races to get postponed, and celebrity appearances at the Daytona 500 to be cancelled. Here is a look at the fallout from the bad weather at Daytona over the past weekend.

  • Daytona has been notorious for weather difficulties, with 7 Cup Series races since 2014 impacted by weather (Most in the Series). However, this weekend has been exceptionally difficult when it comes to the weather.
  • The season-opening Exhibition race, the Clash at the LA Coliseum, was also heavily impacted by weather. Forecasted heavy rain on Sunday forced the race
  • The fans have been immensely disappointed at the bad weather for the weekend. It has put a damper on the opening of the 2024 NASCAR season.

The Weekend Schedule Changes

The Complete Weekend Schedule for the Daytona 500

The most obvious way the weekend has been impacted is by the races being moved or postponed. The first victim was the ARCA Menards Series Sioux Chief Fast Track 200, which was moved from Saturday afternoon to Friday night, after the Craftsman Truck Series race. Gus Dean took home the win.

Then the Xfinity Series race fell victim on Saturday. While NASCAR found a window to get qualifying in, the race was not so lucky. Rain started falling on Saturday afternoon, and it kept raining, and raining, and raining. The race was moved to Monday at 11 AM ET, then to 9 PM ET after more rain came on Monday.

As for the Cup Series race, that rainstorm pelted the track all day on Sunday. There was no chance the rain would let up, so, the race was postponed to Monday at 4 PM ET.

Celebrities and Pre-Race Festivities

Celebrities Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, DJ Khaled, and Pitbull were all scheduled to be in attendance on Sunday. Now that the Daytona 500 is on Monday, how does it impact their schedule?

Pitbull was supposed to perform in a pre-race concert before the 500, and he will NOT return on Monday. However, he did say that he would return for the 2025 race, so, the prerace concert is going to be Pitbull for the 2025 Daytona 500.

DJ Khaled was named the honorary starter for the race, but, he will not return on Monday. However, his presence in the media center was felt on Sunday.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is slated to be the Grand Marshall for the race. He will stay for the Daytona 500 on Monday, and he also made the trip to the media center to talk to reporters. Even if the other star power is gone, Johnson will stay.

The 2024 regular season opening weekend has been quite chaotic, and the weather has made a major impact. Thankfully, it seems everything will happen on Monday afternoon into Monday night,

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HAMPTON, GEORGIA - FEBRUARY 21: Sheldon Creed, driver of the #00 Road Ranger Chevrolet, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 at Echo Park Speedway on February 21, 2026 in Hampton, Georgia.

O’Reilly: Sheldon Creed Breaks Through in Thriller at EchoPark Speedway

by Cody Williams

What’s Happening?

It was a busy Saturday at EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway). First, we had the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. Then, the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series took center stage and they were two vastly different events. Ultimately, it was Sheldon Creed standing tall in victory lane when all was said and done. Here’s what you need to take away from tonight’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at EchoPark Speedway.

  • There were a lot of drivers who had tire problems which set off massive wrecks and incidents. First, Sam Mayer had a tire go down from the race lead. Sammy Smith got bitten. Austin Green. Corey Day. Taylor Gray. The list goes on and on. Some of them were able to stay in contention while others were plagued for the rest of the race.
  • Speaking for Corey Day, he just had a bad race. First, he sparked an incident which took out several drivers, including the Sieg brothers (who weren’t shy about voicing their displeasure about the rookie) and Harrison Burton. And though the broadcasters on the CW gave him the benefit of the doubt, the later incident was less forgivable. In this incident, while he was battling the JRM duo of Carson Kvapil and Justin Allgaier for the race lead, Day got into the No. 1 Arby’s Chevy, sending all three of them into the wall. This is certainly a performance that he’ll want to forget.
  • Chevrolets swept the stages. Winning the first one was none other than Jesse Love, continuing RCR’s dominance on drafting tracks. Rajah Caruth, who had a handful all race, was able to capture his first career stage win by winning Stage 2.
  • It wasn’t the dominating race for RCR that we all thought it would be. With ill-handling cars, their qualifying attempts were underwhelming, and they got off to a lukewarm start tonight. By the end of it, though, they were in the mix. Slicing and dicing, Austin Hill had the lead as they came around to take the white flag. However, in Turn 1, he got “Chastained.” Ross Chastain plowed into the back of the No. 21, knocking him down to the apron. Hill was able to save it and rally home to a 12th place finish.
  • The big story tonight is that Sheldon Creed, finally, after far too many runner-up finishes to count, broke through to capture his first NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win. It will certainly be a day he and his team will never forget.

Notable Incidents

Lap 5: Corey Day

Corey Day had a very sloppy, bad race in general, and it started early. First, he caused a wreck that took out Harrison Burton and a couple of others. Then, he took out the JRM duo of Carson Kvapil and Justin Allgaier. You can recap that first incident by reading the article below.

Also Read:

O’Reilly: Corey Day Triggers Big Wreck Early at EchoPark Speedway

Lap 142: Sammy Smith

Kvapil and Allgaier weren’t the only JRM cars to have issues tonight. Firstly, Rajah Caruth was out of control throughout the race, fighting a mean-handling car. He was able to brilliantly save it several times, to his credit. But perhaps the biggest incident involving the four JRM Chevys came at Lap 142 when Sammy Smith had a tire go down and spun in front of the pack. This took out several drivers, including Taylor Gray, among others. Read about that here:

Also Read:

O’Reilly: Sammy Smith’s Flat Takes Out Heavy Hitters Late at EchoPark

Results

Results Pending.

Points Standings (2 of 35)

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O’Reilly: Sammy Smith’s Flat Takes Out Heavy Hitters Late at EchoPark

by Cody Williams

What’s Happening?

As Ross Chastain took the lead and the pack was closing in on 20 laps to go, things a little deeper in the pack started to get a little hairy. We had yet another huge crash late in the running here tonight, this one sparked by Sammy Smith’s flat rear tire. Here’s what happened:

  • As the laps were winding down in tonight’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race, Sammy Smith, along with his JRM teammates, were in the thick of contention for the win. Unfortunately for him, a poorly-timed flat rear tire ended his (and several others) chance to capitalize and get that first valuable win of the season. Unable to hold onto it, the No. 8 Pilot Chevy spun around in front of a massive horde of cars.
  • Helpless to go anywhere, several heavy hitters were caught up in this incident. They include the likes of William Sawalich, Gio Ruggiero, Patrick Staropoli, Taylor Gray, Brennan Poole, Nick Leitz, and Lavar Scott.
  • It’s an unfortunate beginning of the year for a handful of these drivers. Luckily for Brennan Poole, he’s coming off a strong showing at Daytona and was in the thick of it here tonight. That shows some promise for sure.

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O’Reilly: Mid-Race Report from EchoPark Speedway

by Cody Williams

What’s Happening?

It has been a tail of two races when it comes to today’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at EchoPark Speedway (formerly the Atlanta Motor Speedway). We got off to a rough start with Corey Day triggering a massive wreck that took out the likes of Harrison Burton, and the Sieg brothers. Then, the field settled in and started to churn laps. Here’s what’s gone down so far.

  • Sam Mayer led a bulk of the opening laps. Leading the first 23 laps of the race, he was forced to pit on Lap 24 due to a flat left front tire. No caution was triggered. To make matters worse, he was caught speeding on pit road, putting him down several laps and effectively taking him out of contention.
  • Jesse Love continued RCR’s dominance in the first stage. With Mayer out of the picture, he assumed the race lead, leading 31 laps to win the opening stage.
  • Austin Hill finally made it up to the race lead by Stage 2. Unfortunately for him and RCR, their win streak in the stages ended with the conclusion of Stage 2. It was Rajah Caruth in the No. 88 HendrickCars.com Chevy that captured the green and white checkered flag.
  • In a horrific accident during pit stops, Taylor Gray smashed into one of his tire carriers. It was a scary situation. Fortunately, he got up like a champ and completed the stop. He was thankfully checked and released from the in-field care center.
  • Corey Day’s woes continued as the field set in for the final stage of the evening. Drawing further criticism, Day, while battling for the race lead, made contact with leader Carson Kvapil, sending them both into the outside wall. Also collected in the incident was Kvapil’s teammate, the 2024 series champion, Justin Allgaier.

What do you think about this? Let us know your opinion on Discord or X. Don’t forget that you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.