Rain delays start of Xfinity Series race at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Rain has disrupted activity at Daytona International Speedway and delayed the start of Friday night’s Xfinity Series race.

NASCAR had already moved the start of the race up roughly 15 minutes but the skies opened an hour before the scheduled start, putting all activity on hold.

Earlier Friday, qualifying for the Cup race was canceled because lightning in the area around the track made it impossible for NASCAR to inspect the race cars. The field for Saturday night’s race was set on points.

Defending Xfinity Series champion Tyler Reddick will start on the pole for the Xfinity race. It is Reddick’s third pole of the season.

NBC Sports analyst AJ Allmendinger, who is making his first start of the year, qualified second while February winner Michael Annett will start third.

The top five was completed by Ross Chastain and Gray Gaulding.

Stefan Parsons, the son of former Cup driver Phil Parsons, qualified 29th in his series debut.