DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Rain has stopped the Daytona 500 on Sunday after 11 laps, not long after President Donald Trump in his heavily armored presidential limousine known in Washington as “The Beast” led the drivers on two laps around the track.

The caution flag came out with defending Daytona 500 champion William Byron out front.

Rain started falling in Turns 1 and 2, the West side of the 2½-mile Daytona International Speedway.

Trump spoke to the drivers as he led them through several ceremonial laps.

“This is your favorite president. I’m a big fan. I am a really big fan of you people,” Trump told the drivers. “How you do this I don’t know, but I just want you to be safe. You’re talented people and you’re great people and great Americans. Have a good day, have a lot of fun and I’ll see you later.”

Trump left the track during the rain delay and returned to Air Force One to head back to West Palm Beach, Florida, where he’s staying for the weekend.

Before it landed prior to the race, Air Force One buzzed the Daytona International Speedway. Trump traveled from West Palm Beach with several guests, including his son Eric.

NASCAR officials this week moved up the start time for Sunday’s race by 70 minutes because of potential rain. Inclement weather is expected to be in the area between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. ET, with forecasts showing 99% chance of rain. And since it takes roughly two hours to dry the track, it could be 7 p.m. before the race resumes.

“Captain America” actor Anthony Mackie gave the command for drivers to start their engines.

Irish jockey Michael O’Sullivan died on Sunday, 10 days after sustaining injuries in a fall at Thurles Racecourse in Ireland, the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) said.

O’Sullivan, aged 24, who has ridden 90 winners in Ireland and five in Britain, and his mount Wee Charlie were one of three fallers at the final fence in the second race on the Feb. 6 card.

O’Sullivan was treated on the course before being airlifted to hospital, where he was placed in intensive care.

“Michael sadly passed away in the early hours of Sunday morning surrounded by his loving family in Cork University Hospital,” Dr Jennifer Pugh, Chief Medical Officer of the IHRB, said in a statement.

His family took the decision to donate his organs, Pugh said.

“I have had the privilege of knowing Michael through his amateur and professional career and his dedication, modesty and kind nature always made him a pleasure to be around,” Pugh added.

“The O’Sullivan family have asked for privacy at this time.”

O’Sullivan turned professional in 2022 and he won the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and the Fred Winter at Cheltenham the following year.

“Michael was an exceptionally talented young rider who was always popular in the weighroom and will be deeply missed by everyone in racing who had the pleasure of knowing him,” Darragh O’Loughlin, chief executive of the IHRB, said.

As a mark of respect, Sunday’s fixture at Punchestown and the point-to-point fixtures in Ireland have been cancelled.

MONTREAL — Mikael Granlund scored the overtime winner, and Finland beat Sweden 4-3 Saturday in an instant classic, back-and-forth game between the bitter rivals at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Granlund scored 1:49 into 3-on-3 OT, sending fans in Finland’s blue and white at Bell Centre to the exits cheering and chanting, “Suomi!”

“It’s always great to beat Sweden,” Granlund said in his postgame media availability.

Anton Lundell and Mikko Rantanen also scored for Finland, and Kevin Lankinen made 21 saves in his debut at the NHL-run international tournament, including a pad stop on Mika Zibanejad seconds into overtime. Coach Antti Pennanen switched from Juuse Saros to Lankinen after his team lost 6-1 to the United States on Thursday night.

“I don’t think we needed to do much, we knew that there was a lot of good things we did in the game against USA,” Finland captain Aleksander Barkov said in his postgame interview on SportsNet. “Obviously, the result, 6-1, was not great, it did not look good. But I thought we did a lot of good things. And same thing today.”

Mikael Granlund after putting Finland on his back! 🇫🇮

📸: Vitor Munhoz/4NFO/World Cup of Hockey pic.twitter.com/Vgzu07CLU6

— ESPN (@espn) February 15, 2025

Knocking off Sweden puts the Finns right back in it with one game for them left in round-robin play. The top two teams among the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland meet in the championship game next week in Boston.

Despite goals from Zibanejad and Rasmus Dahlin, the Swedes are in trouble and now might need some help to make the final. Filip Gustavsson was pulled after allowing two goals on four shots in the first period, and Linus Ullmark allowed two on 17 the rest of the way.

Finland also has a potential injury situation to monitor after Barkov came up limping from blocking a shot late in the second. The reigning Stanley Cup champion from the Florida Panthers continued playing through it.

“We got a little better, and played for a full 60-something minutes,” Barkov said. “We knew, playing against Sweden, even if it’s 4 a.m., it doesn’t matter. Everyone is going to be fired up. We came out hard, and we played really well.”

The U.S. faces Canada on Saturday night in the most anticipated game in Montreal, but Sweden and Finland put on quite the show in the matinee. Facing off 19 years after Sweden defeated Finland in the 2006 Olympic gold medal game in Turin, this time the Finns were on the winning end of an entertaining game featuring a blend of speed, skill and physicality — and some pushing and shoving after the whistles, which was expected of players from countries that do not like each other.

The tournament shifts to Boston, where Finland faces Canada on Monday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET and Sweden plays the United States at 8 p.m.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.