DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Though some might not realize it, Sunday’s 62nd annual Daytona 500 was not the first one to be interrupted midway through and pushed to a second day to conclude.

The 2012 Daytona 500 — the 54th edition of The Great American Race — holds that distinct honor, though its mid-race delay wasn’t caused by a Florida deluge.

No, inclement weather prior to the race was just the beginning.

Daytona Int’l Speedway’s original “Longest Day” was a 36-hour marathon that was scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET on Feb. 26, 2012, but a torrential band of rain in the Daytona Beach area made racing impossible and forced NASCAR officials to push the Daytona 500 to Monday for the first time.

Further rain Monday morning led NASCAR to bump an originally scheduled noon ET start back to 7 p.m. ET, making for the first primetime Daytona 500 in history.

Roush Fenway Racing teammates Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle comprised the front row. Biffle led 44 laps during the event, while Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin led the most laps (57) overall.

However, few people remember any of those little details, in large part due to the events of lap 160.

In what now amounts to Daytona 500 urban legend, Juan Pablo Montoya was racing down the backstretch at near-full speed in an attempt to catch the field for an upcoming restart when a broken rear truck arm on his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet sent it careening out of control.

Montoya’s car skidded toward the wall in turn three, where a jet dryer was cleaning the race track so green-flag conditions could resume, and collided with the heavy machinery at the top of the banking.

As the burning wreckage of Montoya’s car slid down into the grass inside the apron of the third turn, jet fuel streamed out of the destroyed track-drying truck and down the banking.

One spark later and turn three was ablaze in a wall of flames as firefighters worked to quell the inferno.

The fire and subsequent efforts needed to clean and repair the racing surface led to a two-hour, five-minute and 29-second red-flag period, during which Brad Keselowski Tweeted from inside his race car and one of the wildest Daytona 500s on record became a worldwide phenomenon.

Underdog Dave Blaney, who had stayed out under caution just before Montoya’s crash with the jet dryer, looked like he was in position to steal the biggest win of his career for much of the stoppage before the track was finally cleaned off and deemed ready to return to racing.

From there, Blaney pitted with a lap to go before the restart, Matt Kenseth assumed command over the field and paced the final 38 laps of the race for his second Daytona 500 win.

Kenseth even survived NASCAR overtime en route to the score, holding off Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Biffle to the checkered flag to hoist the Harley J. Earl Trophy in victory lane after 202 laps.

The race ended at 1 a.m. ET on Feb. 28, a full day and a half after the planned start of the event.

It was a weekend and a sequence of events that now-NASCAR Vice Chairman Mike Helton – then the president of the sanctioning body – couldn’t even believe despite witnessing it first-hand.

“You would think (that) after 65 years and running all the races that NASCAR has run … that you’ve seen about everything,” Helton said. “(But) you do think about, ‘Oh my gosh, if that can happen, what else can happen?’

“It was a very unusual night.”

Eight years after those bizarre events, the Daytona 500 was pushed to Monday for a second time.

The rain played a part, just as it did in 2012, but many of the players in this year’s edition of The Great American Race are different than those from the 54th running of the Daytona 500.

Names like Chase Elliott, William Byron, Erik Jones, Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson all find themselves chasing Daytona 500 glory, while veterans that were in that 2012 field — Jimmie Johnson, Kurt and Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr. and Hamlin, among others — hope to deny them.

This year’s polesitter, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. — who led the first 20 laps on Sunday before the rain came — finished 21st for Roush Fenway Racing on the night that his teammate Kenseth went to victory lane.

And eight years after participating in that marathon Daytona 500, Stenhouse is hoping to be the one celebrating a victory in the return of the “24 Hours of Daytona,” as some pundits are referring to it.

This time, however? The hope is to skip the fire and get to the checkered flag unhindered after 180 more laps.

The fireworks can wait until a winner is sitting in victory lane.

Monday’s broadcast of the conclusion to the 62nd annual Daytona 500 will air at 4 p.m. ET, live on FOX, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.

LOOMIS, Calif. – Nineteen-year-old Jack Wood will begin his busy ARCA Menards Series season beginning Thursday during the ARCA Menards Series West Star Nursery 150 at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The Loomis, Calif.-based driver is also scheduled to compete in his ARCA Menards Series national debut at Phoenix Raceway in March, the ARCA Menards Series West race at Irwindale Speedway, and the SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour Winter Showdown at Kern County Raceway Park. His remaining schedule is still being finalized.

Wood’s efforts will be led by veteran crew chief Ty Joiner, with the pairing already earning dividends in the All-Star Showdown late model at Irwindale Speedway earlier this month. Wood finished a career-best third.

Wood has added another ally to his program with NASCAR Xfinity Series veteran and Bakersfield native Ryan Reed serving as his driver coach.

“I’m super fortunate to have these opportunities. Irwindale was good for my confidence because we were able to run with the best racers on the West Coast,” Wood said.

Thursday’s event will be the first time the West Series has raced on the three-eighths-mile Vegas oval since 2012, but Wood has three starts at the venue in the SPEARS SRL Southwest Tour.

“I really think we have a shot to win. I think we can show up with some good speed,” Wood said. “We spent all of the offseason working on the cars and getting ready for this year.”

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Chase Elliott was chased by Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman at the end of stage one of Monday’s 62nd annual Daytona 500.

Elliott claimed the stage one victory over Bowman, Aric Almirola, Joey Logano and Jimmie Johnson.

Ryan Blaney, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Matt DiBenedetto, Chris Buescher and Ty Dillon also collected stage points at the first break in the 500-mile event.

“Our NAPA Camaro has been, I think, plenty fast enough,” said Elliott following a round of pit stops. “It’s just a matter of being in the right place … and hoping the right lane moves and goes your way. It’s nice to get a playoff point, but hopefully we can finish out our day just like that at the end of 500 miles.”

A perfect Presidents Day Monday, with sunny conditions and warmer temperatures, greeted the near-capacity crowd that returned to see the conclusion of Sunday’s rain-postponed Daytona 500 that was halted after just 20 laps.

The field was refired at 4:02 p.m., and after running a few pace laps, pit road was opened for teams to top off their fuel tanks and change tires.

Finally, the green flag waved and racing resumed on lap 25. Brad Keselowski and Almirola traded the lead in Fords before the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets, led by Elliott and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Johnson, raced their way to the front.

Almirola was the leader at the 100-mile mark, ahead of Ryan Newman’s Ford.

Martin Truex Jr.’s team, along with the other four Toyota drivers in Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin, decided to forego stage points and set their strategy for the entire race by not challenging Elliott, Johnson and Bowman.

On lap 58, William Byron – the winner of Thursday’s second qualifying race – had contact with Ricky Stenhouse on the backstretch. The impact sent Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet flying across the grass at high speed.

Byron’s car then slammed into the inside SAFER Barrier, sustaining heavy front-end damage that put the third-year Cup driver out of the event.

“He hit me in the center left rear and just turned me around,” said Byron, who will finish 40th in the Daytona 500. “It’s unfortunate. I feel like there is no reason to be that aggressive that early in the race.”

On lap 60, many of the contending cars at the front pitted under caution, just five laps short of the end of stage one.

The green flag waved on lap 63 with two laps to go before the end of stage one. Elliott was in the lead ahead of Johnson, and he held command to the green-checkered flag.

TULSA, Okla. – With the continued relationship between the American Sprint Car Series and Lucas Oil Products comes continued coverage on the MAVTV Motorsports Network, which will again film and produce 13 nights of racing.

“Every year, these tracks and drivers get such great exposure and coverage by MAVTV. That’s something that we’re very thankful for because it grows our sport as a whole,” stated ASCS Founder, Emmett Hahn. “We’ve been with Lucas Oil for over 10 years now, and I can’t say enough for what they do for this industry.”

Starting early, the first two events on the lineup take place at Merced Speedway (Merced, Cali.) on Friday, March 6 and Placerville Speedway (Placerville, Cali.) on Saturday, March 7. The last time the series graced California clay was in 2012.

The $15,000 to win Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway (Alger, Wash.) returns on June 25, 26, and 27. Arguably one of the most exciting races of the 2018 season, with Robbie Price becoming the event’s youngest winner, the Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup has been a mainstay on the network for the past five seasons.

Following a trip to the Northwest, the 30th annual My Place Hotels 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank taking at Knoxville Raceway (Knoxville, Iowa) on Aug. 6-8, offers up another $15,000 to prize for teams.

Keeping with the theme of three-night affairs, and big paydays, the Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillin Memorial will take place at Lucas Oil Speedway (Wheatland, Mo.) on Sept. 17-19.

Bringing you the season’s final checkered flag, Tony Stewart presents the VANKOR Texas Sprint Car Nationals during NASCAR weekend at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track (Ft. Worth, Texas) on Oct. 23-24 will round out the lineup of MAVTV events.

Montreal Canadiens star defenseman Shea Weber, who is dealing with an ankle injury that was expected to keep him out several weeks, practiced on Monday and he could return to the ice on Tuesday, according to coach Claude Julien.

"The swelling is down, he's feeling good. [The doctors] don't see any reason for him not to play if he's capable of it, and he's comfortable," Julien told reporters on Monday.

The Canadiens face the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday.

Last Wednesday, Montreal announced that Weber was expected to miss 4-6 weeks because of a sprained left ankle.

Weber suffered the injury Feb. 4 against the New Jersey Devils.

"At this point, I feel good enough to help out and just keep going that way. Obviously, there are timelines put in, but you have to talk to the doctors about that one, because I feel good," Weber said on Monday.

Weber, 34, has 13 goals and 21 assists in 55 games this season, his fourth with the Canadiens.

The Buffalo Sabres have suspended Zach Bogosian after the injury-plagued defenseman did not report to the team's AHL affiliate in Rochester.

Bogosian, 29, had cleared waivers after Buffalo placed him there late last week. He had been in and out of the Sabres lineup with hip injuries and also sat as a healthy scratch.

Bogosian joined the Sabres in 2015 in a multiplayer trade with Winnipeg that was then-general manager Tim Murray's attempt to rebuild the roster. The deal hasn't panned out for Buffalo, which is now on its third coach and second GM and is in jeopardy of extending the NHL's longest active playoff drought to nine years.

Hip injuries have bothered Bogosian during his tenure in Buffalo. He has a goal and four assists in 19 games this season and 53 goals and 141 assists in 636 regular-season games with the Atlanta Thrashers, Winnipeg Jets and Sabres.

He's in the final year of a seven-year deal with a cap hit of $5.1 million.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Here's a look at what's happening in professional golf this week, and how you can watch it:

World Golf Championships

WGC-Mexico Championship

Thursday-Sunday, Chapultepec GC, Mexico City

Course specs: Par 71, 7,355 yards, designed by Willie Smith/Alex Smith (1921), redesigned by Percy Clifford (1972)

Purse: $10.5 million ($1.82 million winner's share)

Defending champion: Dustin Johnson

Notables in the field: Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth, Hideki Matsuyama, Tommy Fleetwood, Adam Scott, Lee Westwood, Shugo Imahira

Tee times: TBD

TV schedule: Thursday-Friday, 2-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, noon-2:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2:30-6 p.m. (NBC); Sunday, 1-2:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2:30-7 p.m. (NBC)

PGA Tour Live: Thursday-Friday, noon-7 p.m. ET; Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. ET; Sunday, noon-7 p.m. ET

PGA Tour

Puerto Rico Open

Thursday-Sunday, Coco Beach G&CC (Championship), Rio Grande, Puerto Rico

Course specs: Par 72, 7,506 yards, designed by Tom Kite/Bruce Besse Jr. (2004)

Purse: $3 million

Defending champion: Martin Trainer

Notables in the field: Viktor Hovland, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Beau Hossler, Maverick McNealy, Patrick Rodgers, Zac Blair, Robert Allenby, Daniel Chopra, J.J. Henry

Tee times: TBD

TV schedule: Thursday-Friday, 10:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 2:30-5 p.m. (Golf Channel); Sunday, 2:30-4:30 p.m. (Golf Channel)

Mickey Wright’s swing may have been the most elegant in the history of the game, but its rhythmic beauty belied the intensity of desire that created it.

Her genius was in the way she channeled obsessive devotion to excellence into such graceful execution.

She was, by almost all accounts, the greatest woman who ever played the game.

Wright died Monday of a heart attack, according to a report from The Associated Press. She was 85.

“I’m not a gut-level, gritty competitor in any way,” Wright once told author Liz Kahn. “Perfection motivated me, doing it better than anyone had ever done it, just as simply as that. I would practice for hours and hours. I beat balls and beat balls and beat balls.”

Wright’s work ethic helped her compile one of the greatest playing records in the history of the game, a list of achievements made more impressive when you consider she stopped playing full time at 34.

Her achievements include:

• 82 LPGA titles, second only to Kathy Whitworth (88).
• 13 major championship titles, second only to Patty Berg (15). Four of those were U.S. Women’s Open titles, equaling Betsy Rawls for most ever.
• 13 victories in a single LPGA season (1963). It remains the tour record. She won 11 times in 1964, which equals Annika Sorenstam for second most LPGA victories in a season.
• Four consecutive major championship victories, a mark no other woman has ever achieved. She won the last two majors in 1961 and the first two in ’62.
• Five consecutive Vare Trophy titles for low scoring average (1960-64), the most won in a row in tour history.
• Four consecutive LPGA money titles (1961-64).
• 14 consecutive years with an LPGA victory (1956-69).

Wright made the best players in the world marvel.

“She had the finest golf swing I ever saw,” Ben Hogan once said.

Wright used that finely honed swing to dominate, winning 44 times in a four-year run (1961-64).

“Mickey was the best golfer we’ve ever had, and that I’ve ever seen,” Rawls once said.

Whitworth saw it up close as a contemporary.

“She was the best I’ve ever seen, man or woman,” Whitworth once told ESPN. “I’ve had the privilege of playing with Sam Snead and Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer and all of them. Nobody hit it like Mickey, just nobody. She had 82 wins, but she would have won over 100 with no trouble if she had stayed on tour.”

One of the six inaugural inductees into the LPGA Hall of Fame, Wright’s importance to the game can’t be overstated. Her appearances kept a number of LPGA tournaments on the schedule in the ‘60s, which added to the growing pressure Wright felt as the game’s biggest star of the era. As president of the LPGA in 1963 and ’64, she had to deal with tournament sponsors threatening to cancel their events if she didn’t play. So she played a lot.

“The pressure was so great,” Whitworth once said. “Knowing if they canceled, the rest of us wouldn’t be able to play, Mickey would always play.”

That took a toll on Wright.

“I played very much more than I could physically and emotionally handle,” she told Kahn for the book “The LPGA: The History of the LPGA, The Unauthorized Version.”

Wright said developing an adverse reaction to sunlight, an aversion to flying, foot problems and other ailments also led to her decision to stop playing full time in 1969. Her discomfort in the public eye was also surely a factor. It challenged her throughout her career.

“I was always shy,” she once said.

That made being the face of the LPGA in the difficult.

“I got winning and golf and myself very closely tied up,” Wright told Kahn. “Golf was me, and I was nothing without golf. Really, I took it to an extreme for a while.”

Expectations mounted the more Wright won. Still, she played full schedules, did countless clinics, exhibitions and interviews to promote the tour.

“The pressure of the press can be very brutal,” Wright said. “If you don’t win, if you come in second or third, there are comments such as, 'What happened to you? Is your game falling apart? Are you over the hill?' This bothered me very much and for a time made me very cynical, which was a trait I did not like in myself.”

When Wright fully retired, she withdrew from the public eye. She continued to avidly follow the game, and she did occasional interviews with reporters, only by phone in her latter years. She said she was content with life in her home in Port St. Lucie, Florida. She hit balls off a mat on her back porch onto a golf course in her backyard into her ‘70s. She liked to fish and play the stock market in retirement, but she stayed out of the limelight.

“But it is absolutely incorrect to think that I am a recluse,” she told Golf World in 2000. “The people who know me know that’s incorrect. I don’t hide out, put on sunglasses and pull a cap down when I go out or anything like that. I just like life simple.”

In 1999, the Associated Press named Wright the female golfer of the century. In 2006, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery. In 2011, the USGA honored her with the opening of the Mickey Wright room in its museum, making her just the fourth player and first woman to have such a collection opened in her honor.

Wright’s affection for the tour was also evident in her decision to become the LPGA’s first statistician.

“I’m a nut with figures and decided I would start keeping records,” Wright said.

Her love affair with golf was passed down by her father, Arthur, while growing up in San Diego. He got her started when she was 4, eventually taking her to La Jolla Country Club to work with Johnny Bellante, who also taught Gene Littler. She would later credit another teacher, Harry Pressler, for helping hone her iconic swing. She was 15 when she began working with him and 17 when she won the U.S. Junior Girls’ Junior.

“My swing, which people have praised, is really Harry’s swing,” Wright told Golf Digest.

Wright credited her mother for driving her to so many lessons and tournaments, and she said her father was a chief motivating force throughout her career. She said his praise was hard to come by, which drove her all the more.

“My father was a huge influence on my golfing life, and he never told me he thought I’d done well until it was all over,” Wright once said.

Admiration for Wright promises to forever echo with her place so prominently secured in the game’s consciousness, with her enshrinement in the World Golf Hall of Fame, LPGA Hall of Fame and the PGA of America Hall of Fame, with her room at the USGA museum and with YouTube videos allowing future generations to appreciate the elegance of her swing.

MEXICO CITY – Three players made 11th-hour runs on Sunday at the Genesis Invitational into the field at this week’s WGC-Mexico Championship.

Collin Morikawa qualified for the year’s first World Golf Championship with his tie for 26th in Los Angeles, which moved him inside the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Scottie Scheffler moved up three spots to 51st with his tie for 30th, pushing him into the field via the alternate list.

And Tony Finau’s withdrawal opened a spot for Sung Kang.

It was Kang who made the biggest jump with his runner-up finish at Riviera, which moved him from 86th in the world rankings to 54th and just ahead of Ian Poulter for the final spot in Mexico.

Five of the world’s top 20 players did not make the trip to Mexico, including world No. 2 Brooks Koepka, Tiger Woods, Patrick Cantlay, Justin Rose and Finau (No. 13).

World No. 1 Rory McIlroy is in Mexico, where he finished runner-up last year to Dustin Johnson.

Paris Saint-Germain coach Thomas Tuchel confirmed that stars Neymar and Kylian Mbappe will be back for Tuesday's Champions League round-of-16 first leg clash away at Borussia Dortmund.

Neymar, 28, has not played since the start of February and Tuchel has preserved him since he took a knock to his ribs during a home league win over Montpellier.

"Neymar is fine -- as long as nothing happens in training, he will play on Tuesday," said Tuchel. "His return changes almost everything for us. Positively, I hope.

"We have quality if Neymar is on the pitch. He has the ability to do decisive things. It changes everything for us -- it gives the team confidence. We do not have many other players of the same calibre."

For Tuchel, it is a return to his former club in Germany and the 46-year-old recognised that he and his squad face a tough task at Westfalenstadion.

"Returning to Dortmund is a great challenge," he said. "It will not be me -- we will have to show a strong face here."

Asked if PSG need to avoid being drawn in by the emotion of the occasion in the Champions League, Tuchel pointed to Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola's example and wants to see intelligent play from his team.

"Pep knows all about it as he has won it three times -- he is right," he said. "It is difficult to control emotions at this stage -- I do not know if it is even possible.

"We have to play with intelligence, not so much emotion. We need to adapt and fight. It is a great fixture, in a great stadium that will be full of incredible supporters.

"The atmosphere here is special. It is not possible to prepare for a match like this in just two days. I feel we are ready."

Tuchel admitted that he was "mentally dead" after last season's unexpected elimination at the hands of Manchester United.

"Right after United, I told the team that we would bounce back -- that we would have the chance to recover," he said. "I died mentally after that match. It is sport, you have to adapt and bounce back.

"It is the competition and we are still here. This is a tough task, but we cannot control the result -- only ourselves. We have to enjoy ourselves, fight, and win against Dortmund. In the end, the result has to be accepted.

"If you fall three times in the round of 16, the fourth is not the same situation. Each year has its own story. There are more important professions than this. Sometimes you happen to lose, even if you want to avoid it. You have to learn from losses, grow and develop."

On top of Neymar and Mbappe, Presnel Kimpembe is also back after missing last Saturday's trip to Amiens.

However, Leandro Paredes joins Abdou Diallo and Colin Dagba in missing out after picking up an injury away at Amiens.