NASCAR has announced that the start time for the 68th running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday, Feb. 15, has been moved up one hour.
The decision was made because of Sunday night’s forecast showing inclement weather in the area. There is currently a 25% chance of rain during the day and a 70% chance in the late afternoon to evening on Sunday, according to Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports.
The new start time of The Great American Race is listed at 1:30 p.m. ET, with an expected green flag time around 2:13 p.m. ET. Prerace TV coverage on FOX has also been moved up to 11:30 a.m. ET.
The last Daytona 500 to have not been impacted by rain came back in 2023. The 2024’s running was postponed to a Monday, and 2025’s edition was delayed by a red flag that was displayed for over three hours.
Kyle Busch will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday.
Michael Bellifemini joined Frontstretch in February 2026 as a contributor. Bellifemini was born and raised in New Jersey and graduated from Seton Hall University. He called Seton Hall men's and women's basketball games for their college radio station, 89.5 FM WSOU, and continues to broadcast in the area. Outside of covering NASCAR, Bellifemini is also an avid baseball, football, basketball, and hockey fan and enjoys watching different sports leagues on a daily basis.
If the green flag flew at 12:45 p.m. like the first full telecast in 1979 the weather would be even less of a problem, weather they believe it or not. It shouldn’t ruin my supper time, but the rain gods might have made contingency plans.
A 2 hour pre race full of commercials and meaningless bull shit then the so called broadcast starts and more bull shit and the green flag finally flies 45 min later. All of that crap last almost as long as the race its self. And we wonder why people dont watch anymore. Broadcast should start 30 minutes before green flag and get on with it