During Sunday's season opener, severe rain shut the race down at the International Speedway after 38 out of the 200 laps had been completed.
The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning in the area.
#Daytona500 at 3:16pm via @Mattzel89:
Daytona 500, with 38 laps to go, threatened by severe weather in the area. Tornado warning in effect until 5:15pm ET
NASCAR fans attempted to stay dry at the track or left in their cars.
Current situation, hunkered down underneath the grandstands at the #Daytona500. #lightning #thunder #TornadoWarning
Because of the delay, Fox aired a replay of last year's race, when Jimmie Johnson won. Many fans on Twitter didn't understand and tweeted along as if the race was live.
woooo Jimmie Johnson wins #Daytona500 YES YES YES YES YES
Jimmie Johnson wins Daytona 500 once again
I barley watch nascar but when Jimmie Johnson wins I hate it so much
So many people congratulated Jimmie Johnson that he tweeted about it:
I hear I won the #Daytona500? Haha! I also have friends confused and texting congratulations to me. #2013Replay
And even Fox News was confused about the win:
Fox News reports Jimmie Johnson wins the Daytona 500 for the 3rd time, uh that was last year current race is in a weather delay. Lol
Whoops!
The Daytona 500 has been delayed for potholes, fires, and weather over the last five years. The race needs to hit 100 laps to become official.
In 2009 Matt Kenseth won a rain-shortened Daytona 500. The next year the Daytona 500 was interrupted for more than two hours because of a pothole in the track.
In 2012 rain shut down the race and then later that night Juan Pablo Montoya slammed into a jet dryer, igniting a fire that caused another delay.
UPDATED — Feb. 23, 11:25 p.m. ET: NASCAR used the Air Titan, a system designed to reduce track drying time, and resumed the race after about six hours of delays.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Dayton 500 after the long rain delay.