Hot News: NASCAR set to run Coke Zero 400 on Sunday at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Clear skies and a sunrise welcomed competitors and fans Sunday morning at Daytona International Speedway.

Now NASCAR just needs those skies to remain clear as it hopes to get the Coke Zero 400 started shortly after 11 a.m. ET - a little more than 15 hours after the originally scheduled start time.

The command to start engines is scheduled for 11:01 a.m. and the 160-lap race likely would go green about 12 minutes later.

The National Weather Service predicts a 64 percent chance of rain during the day Sunday with a 35 percent chance Sunday night. Temperatures will be in the 80s.

NASCAR and track officials, who began drying the track at 7:40 a.m. Sunday, hope the early start time will allow them to get the race in before the typical Florida afternoon showers.

'It seemed like 11 a.m. was the earliest that made sense for the fans but to give us a bigger window of time to get it in tomorrow,' DIS President Joie Chitwood said. 'You'd hate to wait until noon and have some storms hit right after that.'

David Gilliland is on the pole for the race, the 18th of the 36-race Sprint Cup schedule - and the second race this year postponed because of rain.

After four hours of rain pelting the track Saturday night, NASCAR was left with no choice but postpone the race to Sunday morning. While showers in Florida are nothing new during the summer, it was the first rain-related postponement since the Independence Day weekend race moved to night in 1998. That race in 1998 was run in October after wildfires forced the event to be postponed.

Post By http://ift.tt/1mlYCUh