NASCAR Weekend Weather Forecast
By Mike Fuori
This week we head to the Irish Hills of Michigan and Michigan International Speedway for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series, while the Nationwide Series heads across the border to another road course, the beautiful Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The forecast is yet again a bit challenging, but I am certainly not going to call for any washouts at this point. I think the main story will be the cooler temperatures, something we haven’t been able to say in quite a while!
Starting off with the NASCAR Nationwide Series in Montreal, chances for wet weather on Friday will fade away in time for Saturday’s Napa Auto Parts 200. The green flag drops at 2:30pm ET, and I expect partly to mostly cloudy skies and breezy conditions at times, with temperatures close to 21 degrees.
What’s that? No, that’s right… 21 degrees… Celsius! Remember, we’re going to be up in Canada and they do some things a little differently up there! Don’t go rushing to google to try to convert it… I’ve got it for you right here. For those more accustomed to Fahrenheit, the green flag temperature will be around 70 degrees. Had you worried, didn’t I?
Back over on the US side, the Camping World Truck Series will be qualifying and racing on Saturday. I can’t rule out a stray shower late in the afternoon or evening, but I think this low chance of showers will likely hold off until after the race is over. I expect mostly clear skies for qualifying at 9:35 am with temperatures still on the chilly side in the mid to upper 50s. By the time the green flag drops at 12:30 pm for the VFW 200, it will warm up to the upper 60s, and we’ll top out for the day in the low 70s under partly to mostly cloudy skies right as the checkered flag flies, which again should be before any of those possible renegade showers show up.
On Sunday, things get a little trickier for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. A weak disturbance will swing through the area, and may spark a few scattered showers, especially after 2:00 pm. With the green flag scheduled for 1 o’clock, I don’t think we’ll have a problem getting the race started. And actually, at this time I don’t expect that we’ll have to either postpone or end this one early, either. The showers that are possible should be few enough and far enough in between that even if one hits and we see a delay, there should be enough of a window behind it to get the track dried and finish things up. I’ll be keeping an eye on it though and will update this page if necessary. The good news is that I don’t expect any severe weather.
As for the temperatures, added cloud cover will be a camper’s friend Sunday morning as it’ll keep the morning low temperatures in the middle 50s (instead of the 40s we could see Friday night!). Green flag temperatures should be close to 70 degrees, and we’ll top out near 70-72 by the end of the race.
This weekend’s forecast is kind of like the track conditions at Watkins Glen last weekend… It looks good enough that we’ll be able to race, but could be a little slick at the end!