Daytona 500 Moved to Monday

Hard to believe that the Daytona 500 has never been ran on a Monday.

The Daytona 500 was postponed Sunday for the first time in its 54-year history after heavy rain saturated Daytona International Speedway.

NASCAR officials spent more than four hours waiting for a window to dry the famed track, but it never came. When the latest storm cell passed over the speedway around 5 p.m., they had little choice but to call it a day.

The 500-mile race was rescheduled for noon Monday. It will be aired on Fox.

RickLimpert.info Picture of the Week: A Daytona 500 Winner

The world outside of NASCAR diehards had never heard the name Trevor Bayne before today.

They know it now, and will know it forever as a Daytona 500 champion. 

Ah, to be 20 years old, a NASCAR driver and a Daytona 500 winner.

Daytona 500 to be Held a Week Later in 2012

As race fans settle in to watch the 2011 Daytona 500, fans will have to wait an extra week for the 2012 race.

NASCAR and track officials announced Sunday that the Great American Race will be a week later in 2012, allowing the sport to shorten its season and avoid any potential conflicts with the NFL's Super Bowl.

NASCAR's 2012 season opener will be Sunday, Feb. 26.

The new date allows NASCAR to eliminate a traditional off week following the first three races of the season. It also gets NASCAR ahead of any potential changes to the NFL schedule, including an 18-game schedule or NFL labor strife that might force the Super Bowl in Indianapolis to be delayed a week.

"We're not going to deny the fact that part of this also is in dealing with the NFL," said Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR's vice president of racing operations. "Who knows where they'll go with an 18-game schedule. But we want to get ahead of that.

"Either way, we think it's the right thing to do for our season to kick off. The Super Bowl's certainly a big event, but so's the Daytona 500. To give fans an opportunity to go to both of those we think is the right move, it's a win-win for everybody."

Maybe NASCAR knows something we don't know about the NFL and possible schedule changes. 

NASCAR officials are anticipating changes to the NFL's schedule. Whether it's an 18-game schedule and/or an extra bye week thrown in, they certainly don't want Speedweeks trying to compete with America's biggest sporting event, the Super Bowl.

They even declined to say that the date for the next Daytona 500 — the fourth Sunday in February — would remain the same in future years.