The red flag has been lifted on the 67th Daytona 500, which was stopped for more than three hours after completing 11 laps at Daytona International Speedway.
Track drying nearly was complete as the field left the pits under a caution flag at 5:30 p.m. ET.
Defending Daytona 500 winn William Byron was shown as the leader, followed by Austin Cindric, the 2022 winner who started second, Ty Dillon, pole-sitter Chase Briscoe, Joey Logano and Bubba Wallace.
The caution waved on Lap 10 at 2:14 p.m. ET for rain in Turn 2, and the 41 cars were brought to the pits a few minutes later. Drivers began exiting their cars at 2:25 p.m.
Per the Weather Underground forecast, the rain is expected to linger in the area until at least 6 p.m. when the chances drop to 40 percent. It usually takes at least 90 minutes to dry the 2.5-mile track, but the process can take much longer depending on atmospheric conditions.
The start of the race was moved up more than an hour Friday because of a forecast for inclement weather.
The green flag waved at 2:06 p.m. after prerace ceremonies that included President Donald Trump addressing the 41 drivers over the team radios from the presidential limousine known as “The Beast,” which took part in the pace laps ahead of the field.
“This is your favorite president,” Trumptold the drivers. “I’m a big fan. I am a really big fan of you people. How you do this, I don’t know, but I just want you to be safe. You’re talented people and you’re great people and great Americans. Have a good day, have a lot of fun, and I’ll see you later.”
President Trump, who became the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl last week, arrived at Daytona International Speedway at around 1:30 p.m. and was scheduled to return to his resort in Palm Beach, Florida, midway through the race. Before landing at Daytona Beach International Airport (which is just behind the backstretch), Air Force One buzzed the Daytona International Speedway, which had a sellout crowd of 100,000.
Trump is the second sitting U.S. president to attend the Daytona 500, having attended in a 2020 race (which also was delayed by rain and eventually postponed to Monday). President George W. Bush gave the command to start engines at the 2004 Daytona 500.
This is the fourth time in five years that the Daytona 500 has been delayed.
Last year, the start was postponed to Monday because of storms. In 2021, the race started but was delayed by nearly six hours by rain. In 2020, the start was delayed for more than an hour by rain, and the race was postponed to Monday after 20 laps because of another storm.