Rain washes out on-track action at Charlotte – Nascar

The effects of Hurricane Matthew reached far into North Carolina on Friday as rain from the storm forced the cancellation of on-track activity at Charlotte Motor Speedway, including the postponement of the NASCAR XFINITY Series race.

The Drive for the Cure 300 Presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of NC, which is the final race in the XFINITY Series Chase’s Round of 12, has been rescheduled for 11 a.m. ET Sunday. TV coverage remains on NBCSN, with radio broadcast on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Two Sprint Cup Series practices were slated for Friday, and the NASCAR XFINITY Series was slated to have Coors Light Pole Qualifying as well. Those three events have been canceled.

The starting lineup for Sunday’s rescheduled race will be determined by the XFINITY Series rule book, which sets the field by fastest-to-slowest practice speeds from both of Thursday’s sessions. During final practice, Kyle Larson turned the fastest practice lap (185.198 mph) of the day and will start on the pole.

Erik Jones, who currently sits outside the top 8 cut-off line for advancement into the next round, will start second on Sunday.

As of 8 a.m. ET Friday, Matthew was a Category 3 hurricane (downgraded from a Category 4 storm on Thursday) with the hurricane expected to move over the east coast of Florida on Friday and over the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina on Saturday. Hurricane warnings stretched from just north of Miami to southern South Carolina.

There’s an 80 percent chance of rain throughout Friday afternoon, which increases to 90 percent in the evening. Rain started at the track Friday morning and didn’t let up. According to the National Weather Service, heavy rain is expected early Saturday before dropping to a 20 percent chance late Saturday afternoon and into the evening.

Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, the Bank of America 500, is still on for 7 p.m. ET (NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

*Contributing: NASCAR Wire Service