Rain and the Daytona 500 have a long and frustrating history. Some years, the weather barely makes an impact, while in others, it takes complete control of the race schedule. In 2021, a Sunday rain delay pushed the finish past midnight. Then, in 2024, persistent rain on race day led to an early decision to postpone the event until Monday. 2025 was no different.

The race was red-flagged after 11 laps, and the drivers had to wait for over 4 hours for the race to resume. This time, Samantha Busch shared how her husband, Kyle Busch, was spending his downtime.

Daytona might not be ideal when it rains, but Kyle Busch had a peaceful time 

We’ve seen Formula 1 cars race in light rain, but NASCAR seems to come to a full halt. Why so? This is primarily because the cars use smooth tires that lack treads, making it difficult to maintain traction on a wet track. Additionally, if lightning is detected within eight miles of the track, the race is paused for 30 minutes. Each new lightning strike within that range resets the delay, adding another 30 minutes to the wait time. While this time didn’t see any lightning, there could have been thundering snores coming from Kyle Busch’s room!

Samantha Busch had a hilarious update about her husband and Richard Childress Racing star, Kyle Busch! Taking to her Instagram story, Samantha posted, “Back to racing. Good thing he got a nap in during the rain delay.” The image showcased a sleepy Kyle Busch, who rolled over on the floor with his pet dog and enjoying a much-needed nap. After all, before he hits the track, a good sleep will ensure that he stays active throughout the drive!

The Daytona 500 was stipulated to start at 1:30 PM ET, however, the green flag was dropped at around 2:00 PM ET. With only 11 laps down, the cautions hit, and the race came to a roaring halt. NASCAR had announced that drivers should be in their cars by 5:25 PM ET. This led to Kyle Busch taking some rest before he actually could take to his car again! 

But it’s not only Kyle Busch who had spent his afternoon napping. When there is a rain delay, usually each of the drivers has a unique coping mechanism. Talking to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Austin Cindric shared, “I can take a nap just about anywhere. When it rained in the middle of the (Daytona) 500 in 2021, I fell asleep, and when they told me it was time to go back to racing, I said, ‘Wow, that was fast.’ And they told me, ‘No, it’d been three or four hours.” 

Even Kyle Larson has got his plans quite ready. He said, “I know we’ve gotten Chipotle before. We used to have an Xbox, so I used to play that some. Now, I’m pretty sure I’ve watched Disney movies through rain delay.” Rain delays may be frustrating, but our favorite drivers sure know how to put that extra time into good use. However, credit is to be given to NASCAR for speeding this process up over the years. Let’s take a look at what goes into drying up the racetrack after heavy rain.

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How does NASCAR dry up the tracks?

Back in the day, a common thing that NASCAR did was use jet dryers to completely dry the tracks. However, as of  2013, NASCAR introduced the Air Titans. This is a fleet of air-compression systems mounted on pickup trucks that significantly speed up track drying. These machines blow water off the surface, while a vacuum/sweeper truck follows to remove any remaining moisture. 

The drying time varies based on factors like track composition, humidity, cloud cover, and wind. At Daytona International Speedway, the 2.5-mile track typically takes 90 to 150 minutes to dry, but under favorable conditions, the entire process takes an hour only. Thomas Davenport, Manager of Track Services for NASCAR, spoke more about the mechanism. He said, “The air from the blower goes through a series of hoses, and it comes down on an air knife that you see pulled along behind the truck. In a sense, it’s a squeegee, but it’s of air. So, if you think of folks squeegeeing water off a window or things like that, it’s the same effect. We just use it with air.”

Thanks to the Air Titans, the race eventually resumed without any further delays and Kyle Busch’s sleep turned out to be quite valuable. The RCR driver was in the top 5 in stage three and towards the closing laps looked like he was poised for a run to the checkered flag. However, he got caught in a crash ignited by Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr, which ended his race. Despite a gloomy afternoon, Kyle Busch will take positives from this race as he showed shades of Rowdy on a rainy day in Daytona.