UPDATE 9 (12:08 pm ET): The Coke Zero 400 has resumed after about a 22-minute rain delay and resulting red flag race stoppage. Matt Kenseth is back at the front of the field, followed by pole sitter David Gilliland. The big question now is how long will it be before the next rain stoppage. Rain is visible on the National Weather Service radar, but we should be able to get perhaps to Lap 50 before we need to worry about more rain. Remember, this is a 160-lap race, so drivers only need to get to 81 laps (one lap past halfway) for it to be an official race if rain continues to be an issue going forward for the remainder of the day. The NWS is still predicting 60 percent chance of thunderstorms this afternoon.
UPDATE 8 (12:01 pm ET): Drivers are back in their race cars and track dryers are on their way back off-track. We expect engines will be fired momentarily and cars will be back on-track. We expect at least one, possibly two pace laps before the green flag falls for the second time today.
UPDATE 7 (11:53 am ET): Although sun is showing on the front stretch, the race remains under red flag conditions. However, there’s more bad news — aka RAIN — on the horizon, based on National Weather Service radar.
UPDATE 6 (11:36 am ET): The race has been red-flagged due to rain on Lap 11. Cars are back on pit road and some are having tarps placed over them.
UPDATE 5 (11:35 am ET): The race remains under caution and SportingNews.com’s Bob Pockrass is reporting that NASCAR has told the Air Titan track dryers to “power up.”
UPDATE 4 (11:26 am ET): Mother Nature has once again stepped in the way of NASCAR’s Coke Zero 400. The race is under caution after just six laps as rain has again begun to fall, primarily in turns 1 and 2. Oddly, the sun has again popped out around Turns 3 and 4. Matt Kenseth is in the lead, while pole sitter David Gilliland has dropped to second.
UPDATE 3 (11:22 am ET): We are underway for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Clean start. Track looks dry. Now the big question is how long will Mother Nature cooperate? Will teams’ strategy be solely to get to halfway in the event more rain comes? If that’s the case, this could become a sprint to an 81-lap race (one lap past halfway of the scheduled 160 laps).
UPDATE 2 (11:17 pm ET): Sun is shining on the frontstretch of the massive 2.5-mile, high-banked Daytona International Speedway and the green flag is still waiting to fall. There are reports of sprinkles around the track. After the lights on the pace car were turned off and it appeared we were ready to go green, the lights are back on the pace car for at least one extra pace lap.
The National Weather Service is forecasting a 60 percent chance of thunderstorms this afternoon and 40 percent in the evening.
UPDATE (11:10 am ET): The command to start engines has been given and we’ve begun pace laps.
NASCAR vice president of operations Steve O’Donnell just tweeted that rain is outside Turns 1 and 2.
ORIGINAL STORY: The good news: The rain-postponed Coke Zero 400 is due to start shortly after 11 am ET this morning at Daytona International Speedway.
The bad news: Rain is once again in the forecast. The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous weather warning for Daytona Beach and points south.
While the skies have been partly sunny for much of the morning, dark clouds are definitely on the horizon west of Daytona Beach.
A check of the NWS radar at 10:50 am ET shows a storm cell due west of Daytona and moving northeastward. However, once that cell were to pass, there’s little chance of rain for at least the following few hours. There are storms on the west coast of Florida, but it’s too early to predict if they’ll go cross-state and impact the Daytona Beach area or not.
The race is due to be televised on TNT, which could result in a Heidi-like backlash from viewers, as Lord of the Ring: The Fellowship of the King began at 9 am ET and is slated to run until 12:45 pm ET. It’s expected the network will switch to the NASCAR telecast at 11 am ET. There will be no pre-race show, with the green flag slated to fall some time around 11:10 to 11:15 pm ET.
We’ll be back with more race and weather updates as they become available.
