Sunday afternoon, President Donald Trump gave the command for the 40 drivers at the Daytona 500 to start their engines. This was expected to be the kickoff of the season-opening race. However, an issue arose during the early pace laps. Raindrops fell onto the stock cars, causing a rain delay.
As announcers Mike Joy and Jeff Gordon revealed during the pre-race laps, the drivers were forced to pull off of the Daytona International Speedway due to the rain falling from the sky. Instead of watching Dale Earnhardt Jr. waving the green flag to start the race, the competitors were met with a yellow flag.
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“Cars coming down pit road. Rain delay,” one user proclaimed after seeing the 40 drivers pull off of the track. This sparked a number of responses as fans became irate about the highly-anticipated event ending before it even began.
Rain delay. At #Daytona500. pic.twitter.com/ZtNsdOiSZU
— CAT🐱 (@OneCopaceticCAT) February 16, 2020
“Takes 1 hour to start the Daytona 500 just to have a rain delay right before the green. I wonder why NASCAR is losing popularity,” one frustrated fan wrote on Twitter. They had spent all morning waiting to watch the big race start, and now they had to wait for even more time.
With the news of the rain delay, there were several fans on social media wondering why it had taken so long for the actual race to start. In their opinion, the weather could have been avoided if the cars had headed to the track at 11 a.m. or even noon. They didn’t need to see a Darius Rucker concert or the various pre-race festivities. Just skip straight to the action.
With this rain delay in place, the announcers were hoping to see a very brief pause. However, that didn’t appear to be the case. Jeff Gluck of The Athletic revealed that the skies “had opened up” and that fans were heading for shelter. They didn’t want to be sitting in the stands while the rain fell from the sky.
“Somehow this is all Trumps fault [laughing out loud],” one user wrote on Twitter. There were several that said the president had caused the inclement weather with his pace lap. They voiced the opinion that NASCAR deserved this delay due to letting the race turn into a “political sideshow” on Sunday. Although there were others that simply explained that the race is taking place in Florida, a state where random rainstorms occur on a routine basis.
Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images
