NASCAR Cup Series: Will rain postpone AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover?
By Asher Fair
There has been rain forecasted for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race, the AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover, throughout the week. Will it postpone the event?
The two words “Monday race” have become far too common in the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season, at least for the majority of drivers and fans. There is a slight (or maybe more than slight) chance that we may be hearing those words once again later today. But the verdict on that is still out.
The AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware is set to take place today at 2:00 pm ET. The live broadcast from the four-turn, high-banked, 1.0-mile “Monster Mile” over is set to begin at that time on Fox Sports 1 before the green flag waves shortly thereafter.
Even if the green flag flies and Kyle Larson leads the field into turn one in his #42 Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing, will the first two stages of the race end up being completed to make the race official?
The odds of this happening are not high given what the weather forecast has stated and currently states, but these forecasts have certainly been wrong before. Throughout this past week, the chance of rain and thunderstorms on Sunday afternoon has been as high as 80% and as low as 20%, according to Weather.com.
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There is currently a 60% chance of scattered thunderstorms throughout the afternoon. Rain showers are projected to begin at 11:00 am ET, and they are projected to turn in to scattered thunderstorms at 1:00 pm ET, which is just an hour before the scheduled start of the race. These scattered thunderstorms are not supposed to stop until 7:00 pm ET, when they will then turn into rain showers until 1:00 am ET on Monday morning.
It would appear that Kyle Larson and the rest of the field will be fortunate enough to make it into turn one on lap one tomorrow afternoon, much less fortunate enough to complete the first two stages of the race to make it official without a postponement or suspension being needed.
A postponed or suspended race, which certainly seems possible of not likely this weekend, would be nothing new in the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season. The STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia was originally scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 25. However, it was postponed to Monday, March 26 due to snow.
Also, the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee was originally scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 15. Several of its laps did take place on that day, but the race was suspended due to rain and the majority of it was held on Monday, April 16.
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Will the AAA 400 Drive for Autism go on as planned later today, or will it be postponed until Monday, May 7? Tune in to the live broadcast of the race from Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware at 2:00 pm ET to find out.