Upcoming NASCAR races under inclement weather threat as Daytona 500 looks to kick off 2024 Cup season

The first major event of the 2024 NASCAR season, the Daytona 500, is almost here, and the weather is now a big concern for the weekend. As the Daytona International Speedway will be hosting many events like the Xfinity Series race and the Daytona 500 - the main event, the impending rain is a threat to how the events will develop.

Fox Sports reporter Bob Pockrass posted about the weather forecast and how it will affect NASCAR's scheduling on X (formerly Twitter), with the caption:

"FYI weather: —no changes for xfinity/cup schedules at moment & uncertain when NASCAR would make call —likely need 4-hr window for Xfinity, 5-hr for Cup —if Xfinity ppd, race Monday—if both Monday, likely Xfinity before 500 (times to be finalized)"

The National Weather Service (NWS) has predicted a lot of rain on Saturday and Sunday.

Today's forecast predicts a high probability of rain for Saturday and that the rain will continue the whole day. This raises doubts for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race in the afternoon. The prediction for Sunday seems hardly promising, with a very high probability of rainfall during the race hours of the Daytona 500.

NASCAR usually has the option to race during rainy conditions like this, but with no tread on the tires, racing on a wet track is not possible at Daytona. Taking extra precautions and drying the track would take between 90 minutes to 150 minutes.

Race cancellation or rescheduling decisions are influenced by several factors like forecast updates, track conditions, and broadcast partner consideration. For now, no decision has been made yet.

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The 2024 Daytona 500 starting line-up

Known for its 2.5-mile superspeedway, Daytona has unique features of 31 degrees of banking in the turns, 18 degrees in the tri-oval, and three degrees in the back straightaway.

On the list of contenders who are eyeing the win is Ricky Stenhouse Jr. of JTG Daugherty Racing, who is looking to defend his title after winning the Daytona 500 last year. Here is the full starting line-up for the 2024 Daytona 500:

1. No.22: Joey Logano

2. No.34: Michael McDowell

3. No.45: Tyler Reddick

4. No.20: Christopher Bell

5. No.9: Chase Elliott

6. No.2: Austin Cindric

7. No.48: Alex Bowman

8. No.11: Denny Hamlin

9. No.77: Carson Hocevar (R)

10. No.42: John Hunter Nemechek

11. No.43: Erik Jones

12. No.21: Harrison Burton

13. No.99: Daniel Suarez

14. No.71: Zane Smith (R)

15. No.54: Ty Gibbs

16. No.6: Brad Keselowski

17. No.5: Kyle Larson

18. No.24: William Byron

19. No.17: Chris Buescher

20. No.14: Chase Briscoe

21. No.1: Ross Chastain

22. No.51: Justin Haley

23. No.84: Jimmie Johnson

24. No.23: Bubba Wallace

25. No.41: Ryan Preece

26. No.36: Kaz Grala

27. No.19: Martin Truex Jr.

28. No.16: A.J. Allmendinger

29. No.7: Corey LaJoie

30. No.4: Josh Berry (R)

31. No.38: Todd Gilliland

32. No.12: Ryan Blaney

33. No.3: Austin Dillon

34. No.8: Kyle Busch

35. No.47: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

36. No.15: Riley Herbst

37. No.31: Daniel Hemric

38. No.10: Noah Gragson

39. No.62: Anthony Alfredo

40. No.60: David Ragan.