The Daytona 500 is known as NASCAR’s biggest race of the year, the season opener, and the sport’s “Super Bowl.” But now, NASCAR is making sure it never has to compete with the actual Super Bowl again. The reason is simple: when both events happen close together, all the attention goes to football, and NASCAR’s biggest moment gets lost in the noise.

That’s why, for 2027, NASCAR has decided to move the Daytona 500 one week later than usual. Instead of the traditional Presidents’ Day weekend, the race will now take place on Sunday, February 21, 2027, a full week after the Super Bowl. The 2026 race will stay on its normal date, but the 2027 change shows NASCAR isn’t afraid to adjust when needed.

During a recent press conference, NASCAR President Steve Phelps made it clear that this move was intentional. When asked if NASCAR might keep changing the date in future years, he said, “We want to avoid the Super Bowl, for sure.” Phelps explained that NASCAR can’t win that ratings battle, and doesn’t want to. “The Daytona 500 is our Super Bowl,” he said, adding that the sport needs its own spotlight.

It’s not just about TV ratings, either. NASCAR officials said fans travel from all over the country, and even overseas, to see the Daytona 500 in person. Which is why announcing the date 16 months in advance will help fans plan their trips better. Plus, moving the race away from the Super Bowl will give fans a weekend fully focused on racing. NASCAR broadcasters and sponsors will also get a clearer window to promote the race.

This move also shows how much the sports calendar has changed. The NFL has slowly pushed its season further into February in recent years, leaving other major leagues to work around it. NASCAR is simply being smart, choosing to move its biggest event instead of letting it get overshadowed.

So, if the NFL keeps extending its season, expect NASCAR to keep adjusting, too. As Steve Phelps said, the message is simple: NASCAR won’t fight the Super Bowl; it’ll just move the Daytona 500 to make sure it always gets the attention it deserves. But the fans on Reddit sound disappointed with this.

Fans grumble over Daytona shift

“Just run it during Pro Bowl week, because it’s not like anyone actually cares about the Pro Bowl.” There’s logic in this proposition. The Pro Bowl (the NFL’s all-star game) is well outside the league’s main viewing window and has comparatively low stakes and lower viewership than the Super Bowl.

The implication is that if the NFL holds the Super Bowl later (and they have done so in recent years with schedule extensions), then the clash pressure is really with that marquee event. In fact, NASCAR has acknowledged the clash with the Super Bowl specifically.

According to a recent announcement, NASCAR is shifting the Daytona 500 in 2027 to Feb. 21 to avoid a head-to-head with Super Bowl LXI (scheduled for Feb. 14, 2027). So while the Pro Bowl week might appear available, the bigger conflict is clearly with the Super Bowl, and NASCAR is treating the latter as the scheduling obstacle.

“They could also put it the weekend before the Super Bowl and then have a Phoenix night race on Saturday, the weekend of the Super Bowl, or just take that weekend off.” This statement suggests moving the Daytona 500 to the weekend before the Super Bowl so the race precedes that big NFL event (rather than competing with it).

It’s a valid suggestion. Historically, NASCAR has usually shifted the date afterwards and not before. So yes, putting it on the weekend before the Super Bowl could be on the table, but for 2027, NASCAR has chosen instead to go after the Super Bowl week. That decision suggests they prefer clear space rather than being a lead-in or buffer.

“I can’t disagree, but having it the weekend before (or even the Saturday afternoon into evening) should be on the table.” This repeats the previous idea with slight variation, suggesting an afternoon-to-evening race just before the Super Bowl.

The logic being you’d get the entire motorsport audience built up, then smoothly transition into the football buildup without two big events fighting for attention simultaneously.

While NASCAR has not publicly committed to a “race right before the Super Bowl” scenario, the fact that they are willing to shift the Daytona 500 off its traditional Presidents Day weekend slot shows they’re open to non-traditional timing.

One nuance is that the weekend before the Super Bowl is already intensely filled with NFL programming and major bowl games in college football, so NASCAR may still see risk in trying to ride that wave rather than separating from it. The move for 2027 (week after) seems to reflect that caution.

“Well, if the damn race started a little after noon or maybe even at 1 pm, like it used to, you wouldn’t have that damn problem, Steve. It could be a great lead-in to the Super Bowl in fact. Race starts at noon, ends by 4, and you still get in 2-3 hours of annoying pre-game bullshit.”

Here, they’re suggesting that altering the start time (e.g., early afternoon) might allow overtaking any clash by finishing well before Super Bowl pre-game shows dominate. Historically, the Daytona 500 has indeed started earlier in the day; for example, in some years, the green flag was around 1:30 pm ET.

However, even with an early start, the issue isn’t just the start time; it’s overall media attention, viewer fatigue, and marketing window. According to the announcement about 2027, NASCAR’s leadership made clear the race needed its own “stand-alone” weekend so that fans and broadcasters could focus on it rather than splitting attention with the NFL’s biggest game.

So, while the idea of an earlier start has merit (and could alleviate some overlap), the challenge for NASCAR appears larger than just the time of day; it’s about weekend placement, marketing, media saturation, and travel logistics.

“Daytona not on a 3-day weekend just feels wrong. Hope we don’t lose that … or will just take that Monday off to have a 3-day weekend regardless lol.” This comment taps into the tradition: for many years, the Daytona 500 ran on the third Sunday of February (often Presidents Day weekend in the U.S.), which gives many fans a long weekend to travel, attend, and recover.

Whether this means fans “lose” the three-day feel depends on how the surrounding Speedweeks schedule is structured. The key takeaway is that one of NASCAR’s major events is moving off its holiday-long weekend anchor, and yes, it does stir concern (and nostalgia) among longtime fans.