NASCAR Official Lets Slip Forced “Hard Stop” Decision Behind Daytona 500 Preceding Xfininty Season Opener

The NASCAR Xfinity Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway was originally scheduled for Saturday afternoon. However, persistent rain throughout the weekend forced NASCAR to reschedule the race for Monday. This also marked the hosting of a historic doubleheader featuring two high-octane races on the same day at the Daytona International Speedway, and the races marked a unique experience for fans of the sport.

However, this decision to reschedule the NXS race to after Daytona was a forced measure by NASCAR officials. Speaking about what exactly led to the decision for a historic event on Monday, NASCAR official Elton Sawyer spilled the beans.

A window view that shifted the NXS one more time

Former NASCAR driver Elton Sawyer shared detailed insights from the races at the Daytona International Speedway. In a recent interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90), Sawyer said, “Obviously, we get up Monday morning, forecast as it was. I looked out the hotel window at about 4.30 and it looked the same as it did as I went to bed the night before. We started thinking about that, had another meeting that morning, and we needed to call an audible to move the extended race post-Daytona 500.”

Elton Sawyer continued as he explained why the Xfinity Series was postponed to after the Daytona 500 race. “There were a lot of things that went into that, excuse me, we weren’t going to make our 11 AM green flag. It’s roughly a two-and-a-half-hour race. To be able to have all the pre-race activities as planned for the Daytona 500, we needed a hard stop on the XFINITY at 2 PM.”

Races, as informed by Sawyer, aren’t started where they can’t be completed. So, the decision was to move the NXS to the post-Daytona 500 race. “We had to have a lot of flexibility. Ultimately, we got to Monday where we had blue skies and some great racing,” said Sawyer.

Read More: NASCAR Xfinity Race at Daytona Pushed Back as to Not Disappoint Fans, Reveals SVP

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Saturday’s on-track schedule was affected by rain, leading to the cancellation of the final Daytona 500 practice and a delay in Xfinity Series qualifying. The Xfinity Series’ United Rentals 300, originally planned for Saturday, was rescheduled to Monday at 11 a.m. ET. This turned out to be a lucky event for fans with access to the grandstand tickets. Fans with Saturday grandstand tickets and admission to the Hard Rock Bet Fanzone had the opportunity to attend both the Xfinity Series race and the Daytona 500.

The 66th annual Daytona race also had other surprises in store as New Gen cars made their debut at the race. A three-year anticipation comes to an end with the seventh-generation cars making their way through the Daytona International Speedway. This also marked the first points-paying race with the new Next Gen car for the NASCAR Cup Series. Notably, Michael McDowell, driving the Next Gen car, achieved a remarkable victory at the Daytona International Speedway during the 66th annual Daytona 500.

Races at the Daytona International Speedway thus turned out to be full of unprecedented happenings.

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