Daytona 500 postponed until Monday

The Daytona 500 has been postponed by NASCAR until Monday at noon Eastern time. It’s the first time in the 54-year history of the race that rain has forced the sport’s signature event to be delayed a day.

Carl Edwards, runner-up to Tony Stewart for last year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship, will be the pole-sitter when the race begins Monday. The 500-mile race will be shown on Fox.

NASCAR postponed the race after heavy rain soaked Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, when it became obvious to officials that there wouldn’t be a big enough window between showers to dry the track and run the race, even if it was less than 500 miles.

The last Daytona 500 to end early because of weather was in 2009 when Matt Kenseth was declared the winner 48 laps short of the finish.

Two years ago, when Jamie McMurray edged 2004 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the victory, the race was delayed more than two hours because of potholes in the track’s surface.

“Obviously, you want to go race,” said driver A.J. Allmendinger. “We get to race when we race. I know it [stinks] for the people sitting out there because they’ve got to sit in the rain. But for us, we go in here and we have push-up contests, we eat a lot of food and we have a good time.”