The Daytona Beach weather forecast is getting a lot of attention as the Daytona 500 race is underway, but Mother Nature could throw a caution flag before the race is over.

The green flag waved at 2:14 p.m. Eastern time, and it may be a race to finish before a cold front arrives. This is an hour earlier than previously scheduled with hopes to get the entire race in before the rain arrives.

Could Rain Delay The Daytona 500?

During race weekend, an area of low pressure has been crossing the southern U.S., bringing the chance of showers and storms from Texas to Florida. And this system will take aim at Daytona Beach.

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By Sunday evening, showers and thunderstorms are likely in Central Florida as the cold front sweeps through.

(MORE: Valentine’s Weekend Storm Includes Flood, Severe Threats In South)

So, as long as the race finishes before the showers and storms from the cold front arrive, all should be okay, right? Chances of thunderstorms are increasing closer to the start of this race.

One wild card, however, is if scattered showers develop well ahead of the front in the afternoon. That could bring rain earlier than shown below.

Regardless, hopefully you packed those ponchos just in case and the race can run full throttle.

Weather Impacts On Previous Race Years

Even though the Daytona 500 is held during Florida’s dry season, rain has still managed to soak the track from time to time.

Since 2020 alone, four races have seen delays:

2020: Rain pushed the entire event to Monday.

2021: Rain delays stretched the race past midnight, another Monday finish.

2022: Like 2020, persistent rain postponed the race to Monday.

2025: Rain delayed the race roughly three hours before it wrapped up later that night.

However, the most unusual delay came in 2012, when rain wasn’t the only hazard on the track.

2012: Rain postponed the race to Monday. Then, during the race, Juan Pablo Montoya crashed into a jet dryer, sparking a fire. This was the only Daytona 500 to finish on a Tuesday.

2003, 2009: Both races were called after the halfway mark due to rain. Only four Daytona 500s in history have failed to run the full distance because of weather.

The warmest Daytona 500 on record came in 1975, with a high of 85 degrees, while the coldest occurred in 1967, when temperatures topped out at just 48 degrees.

Jennifer Gray is a weather and climate writer for weather.com. She has been covering some of the world's biggest weather and climate stories for the last two decades.