Daytona 500 live updates: Race postponed until Monday due to heavy rain

EDITOR’S NOTE: Updates for Sunday are complete. They will resume Monday afternoon ahead of the race.

The 40 best NASCAR drivers will compete Sunday in the Daytona 500 with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. on the pole.

The 62nd running of the Great American Race at Daytona International Speedway gets the green flag at 2:30 p.m. and will be televised on FOX. President Donald Trump will be the Grand Marshal. For live coverage throughout the race and news you may have missed on the telecast, The Charlotte Observer has you covered here with updates from our NASCAR reporter, Alex Andrejev, who’s at the track.

Updates will be posted regularly on this page, with the most recent up top (refresh this page for the latest). You can also follow Alex on Twitter, @AndrejevAlex.

Pre-race reading

• NASCAR enters Daytona 500 as a sport without a face. Can Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott be it?

• Daytona 500 starting positions

• Daytona 500 prediction: Why we like this driver to win

• Daytona 500 for dummies: A NASCAR newcomer’s guide to the Great American Race

• Samantha Busch opens up about IVF, motherhood and Kyle’s desire to win Daytona 500

Daytona 500 live updates

Stage 1

6:50 p.m. POSTPONED: NASCAR announces the Daytona 500 is postponed until Monday. The race will resume at Lap 21 at 4:05 p.m.

6:44 p.m. DELAY: Heavy rains at the speedway will likely delay the race until Monday.

6:33 p.m. DELAY: Drivers are called back to their cars.

6:17 p.m. DELAY: Drivers are told to uncover cars, but almost immediately more sprinkles come down.

5:11 p.m DELAY: A Daytona International Speedway official estimates it will take at least 1.5 hours for the crew to dry the track.

4:36 p.m. Lap 21: Caution for rain, followed by a red flag. Cars return to pit road, drivers exit their cars and the crew returns to dry the track.

4:31 p.m. Lap 16: Stenhouse, Logano, Almirola, Newman, Harvick remain in the lead. Toyotas (Jones, Truex, Bowyer and Bowman) run together at the end of the field. They fall back after the field runs two cars wide in the second lap.

4:20 p.m.: The green flag is waived and the race starts. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. starts on the pole driving the No. 47 Chevrolet for JTG Daugherty. Alex Bowman starts second in the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.

Pre-race

4:15 p.m.: Engines are re-fired and cars run their pace laps again..

4:07 p.m.: Drivers are uncovering their cars and gearing up again. Dale Earnhardt Jr.

4:03 p.m.: Cue Jeopardy theme music.

3:43 p.m.: The presidential motorcade exits the infield. The Daytona International Speedway crew continues to work on drying the track.

3:35 p.m.: Drivers are out of their cars and waiting for the command to re-start as the speedway crew dries the track. Rain has cleared and the sun has returned.

3:30 p.m.: As the race is about to go green, the flag is called off due to rain sprinkles. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has the flag in hand ready to wave when given the okay...

3:10 p.m.: Trump and Melania drive a lap in the presidential limo. He becomes the first sitting United States president to pace the field. WWE wrestler Sheamus also paces the field.

3:07 p.m.: Trump gives the command to start engines.

2:52 p.m.: The invocation is delivered and the United States Air Force Thunderbirds F-16s flyover during the National Anthem.

2:33 p.m.: President Trump takes the stage next to his wife, Melania, in front of a roaring crowd to make a speech. He thanks the armed forces and God, and recognizes military members and Gold Star families.

“Soon the cars will take to the track for the start, tires will screech, rubber will burn, fans will scream and the Great American Race will begin,” Trump said in his speech. “For 500 heart-pounding miles, these fierce competitors will chase the checkered flag, fight for the Harley J. Earl Trophy and make their play for pure American glory. That’s what it is. Pure. American. Glory.”

2:30 p.m.: Daytona International Speedway is filling up. This is the fifth consecutive year the event has sold out its 101,000 grandstand seats.

2:21 p.m.: Drivers are being introduced to the crowd. They walk onto the stage in the infield two at a time past the Harley J. Earl Trophy. Aric Almirola just told FOX he met the President moments ago.

2:12 p.m.: Kyle Busch told the FOX broadcast crew said winning last year’s Cup championship gives him a lot of momentum and confidence heading into the Daytona 500. Busch’s best finish at the Daytona 500 is second place (2019).

1:49 p.m.: Trump isn’t the only celebrity at Daytona today. Other high-profile attendees include Darius Rucker, Sheamus, Cole Swindell, Alexander Ludwig, Kristy Dawn Dismore, Omar Epps, Keisha Epps, Quincy Brown and Winston Duke.

1:29 p.m.: President Trump arrives on Daytona International Speedway grounds in a motorcade. He was met by Jim France’s family at the airport, then driven to the superspeedway.

1:05 p.m.: Air Force One flies over Daytona International Speedway, then lands at the Daytona Beach International Airport. President Trump is serving as the grand marshal for the race. He is expected to give the command from outside the presidential limo, then make pace laps.