Rain delays NASCAR Sprint Cup practices at Kentucky Speedway | NASCAR Talk – NBCSports.com

SPARTA, Ky. – Here comes the rain again.

Two days after the Coke Zero 400 ended at 2:41 a.m. because of a three-hour weather delay, a midafternoon shower put another damper on NASCAR’s plans to begin testing new rules at Kentucky Speedway.

Sprint Cup teams were scheduled to test at the 1.5-mile oval from 3-8 p.m. with a one-hour break from 5-6, but as of 3 p.m., it still was raining.

Some drivers were optimistic about a clearing in time to allow practice this evening.

NASCAR hadn’t announced any schedule changes as of midafternoon, but officials had indicated there was schedule flexibility to add Thursday practice time for the Cup cars, which weren’t slated to return on the track until Friday.

Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 will mark the debut of a lower-downforce package. The new rules also will be used in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. NASCAR announced Tuesday that it will use a high-drag rules package for races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Michigan International Speedway.