Mother Nature continues to haunt NASCAR, Bristol – Sporting News

BRISTOL, Tenn. — The one NASCAR track that couldn’t afford a rainout this season is Bristol Motor Speedway, but the track continued to battle rain Sunday morning after its popular Saturday night race was rained out.

UPDATE: At last, dry air was moving through the mountains into Thunder Valley. NASCAR and forecasters said racing could begin as early at 5 p.m. ET with the possibility of a full 500 laps being completed.

The Bass Pro Shops/NRA Night Race was postponed after just 48 laps Saturday and was scheduled to go green after 1 p.m. ET today. That was scotched as rain returned, raining the possibly of a Sunday night race, or at least a restart after 6 p.m. ET, The race will resume with the field in the order it stopped. Click here for starting lineup.

But Sunday’s forecast also did not look good. NASCAR and its teams woke up to more rain, and it was raining steadily at the track at 10 a.m.According to The Weather Channel, there was an 80 percent chance of rain throughout the day, with a 65 percent chance around 1 p.m., increasing to 75 percent between 3-4 p.m.

MORE: Saturday night’s rainout

About noon ET, weather radar showed another batch of rain headed for Bristol. Best guess for clearing was 5 p.m. Maybe Bristol will be a night race after all.

Rain subsided just after 10 a.m. and the skies cleared a bit, with the sun even popping out at one point as NASCAR teams began to enter the track for race preparation. NASCAR began drying the track around 10:15 a.m. About 11, NASCAR’s fleet of track-drying machines had nearly completed work … when rain resumed. That pattern continued.

Because of the postponement, TV coverage of the Bristol race was moved to CNBC.

Per @NASCAR, there will be no Anthem and no command, since the race has started. The cars are scheduled to roll at 1pm, when we’re on @CNBC.

— NASCAR on NBCSN (@NASCARonNBC) August 21, 2016

The race would be considered official if NASCAR can get a break and race to halfway, or to Lap 250. The high-banked, half-mile track in East Tennessee dries quickly and NASCAR could conceivably get to halfway in about an hour to an hour and a half — if it would get a window of clear skies.

NEWS: The 1 PM ET start time has been delayed. Stay tuned for updates. #NASCARonCNBC: https://t.co/swI2u0uPsP pic.twitter.com/i6jc1Xen5z

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 21, 2016

MORE: Images from Bristol | Tony Stewart salute | ‘Old-school’ race

The track was hoping for a smooth weekend because it is scheduled to stage the Battle at Bristol college football game between Tennessee and Virginia Tech on Sept. 10. It has 19 days to turn the racing facility into a football stadium designed to seat more than 150,000 fans for the epic game expected to break the college football attendance record. Construction on the football field and facilities was scheduled to begin immediately after the race. Now, Bristol is behind schedule.

Next wave arrived sooner than I thought but will rain here for the next 45-60 min @BMSupdates pic.twitter.com/CVXv9WBwwg

— Brian Neudorff (@NASCAR_WXMAN) August 21, 2016

Length of rain est 180 mi moving 35 mph we have 5-6 hrs of off/on rain (more on than off) #NASCAR @BMSUpdates pic.twitter.com/Qc8H8My4jz

— Brian Neudorff (@NASCAR_WXMAN) August 21, 2016

Saturday’s race start was delayed about an hour because of rain and thunderstorms. The green flag flew just after 9 p.m. but drivers got in just 31 laps before rain returned. There were two red-flag delays before NASCAR postponed the event at 11:24 p.m. The grandstands were evacuated three times because of thunder and lightning.

“It’s too bad we couldn’t get this race in tonight because I was riding around under caution there thinking, ‘There’s no better place than Bristol under the lights,’ ” Ricky Stenhouse Jr. said. “The cars look cool and the race track is awesome, but there’s nothing you can do about the weather.”

Quick progress already being made by the Air Titans. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/XIuBEWvvFT

— Christian Espinoza (@Christian_Racin) August 21, 2016

MORE: Dale Earnhardt Jr. update | Hendrick introduces William Byron

Carl Edwards started on the pole but quickly lost the lead on the first lap to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin. Hamlin led eight laps before Chase Elliott got by him and the two shared the lead early.

Busch, a five-time winner at Bristol, took the lead on Lap 23 and led until the first caution for rain on Lap 31. The drivers ran 17 more laps under caution around two red-flag periods, but never went back to green.

Busch was leading when the race was postponed, followed by Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Martin Truex Jr., Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Joey Logano and Kyle Larson.

The race is the 23rd of the season, with just three more remaining before the field is set for the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup.