Race day has finally arrived as the 2012 Daytona 500 is only a few hours from the green flag flying. The Bay Area will be represented by Los Gatos-native A.J. Allmendinger and Vallejo-born Jeff Gordon, sitting in the No. 15 and No. 16 positions, respectively. Allmendinger is looking to get the season off to a strong start and continue his ascent in NASCAR, while Jeff Gordon is looking for his fourth career Daytona 500 victory. Here is the complete starting grid for Sunday's race.
The pre-race broadcast gets started at 9:00 a.m. PT on FOX, with race coverage starting at 10:00 a.m. The race coverage starts with a host of honorary festivities with the green flag finally flying at approximately 10:29 a.m. PT. The pre-race festivities include the National Anthem by Train's Pat Monahan, which follows a pre-race concert starring Lenny Kravitz.
If you are at your computer but away from a television during the race, make sure to swing by NASCAR.com for all their online tools on race day. NASCAR provides some of the best online support for its races among any major sport in America, or even the world for that matter.
The big concern for today's race is weather, as there is rain in the forecast. Nobody really knows exactly when the showers will depart the area. The biggest concern would be a postponement, but the more realistic concern is the race getting started and then being cut relatively short due to the weather. A postponement would be an issue not only because of the unprecedented delay, but also the fact that Monday's weather forecast is not looking much better. We will keep a close eye on these developments.