NASCAR Cup Series: Start time for Bristol Night Race moved up

By Asher Fair | Aug 17, 2018

BRISTOL, TN - AUGUST 19: Erik Jones, driver of the #77 5-hour ENERGY Extra Strength Toyota, and Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 Huggies Little Movers Chevrolet, lead the field during a restart for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 19, 2017 in Bristol, Tennessee. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images) /

The start time for the the 24th race of the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season, the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, has been moved up due to a threatening forecast.

The 24th race of the 36-race 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season, the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, at Bristol Motor Speedway was initially scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. ET tomorrow night. However, that start time has been moved up.

As a result of the potential for inclement weather, the 500-lap race around the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) Bristol Motor Speedway oval in Bristol, Tennessee is now scheduled to begin one hour earlier at 6:30 p.m. ET tomorrow night. All of the pre-race ceremonies have been moved up by one hour as well.

According to Weather.com, there is a 60% chance of scattered thunderstorms in Bristol, Tennessee tomorrow night. However, moving the race up by an hour may not make much of a difference, as these scattered thunderstorms are predicted to begin tonight at 10:00 p.m. ET and not let up until Sunday, August 19 at around 4:00 p.m. ET.

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Weather delays, race start time changes, postponed races, suspended races and shortened races have been the story of this 2018 Cup Series season so far. Every few weeks, one or more of these things are affecting Cup Series races.

In fact, the first race of the season at Bristol Motor Speedway was held back in mid-April. Some of it was completed on Sunday, April 15, but the remainder of it was completed on Monday, April 16 since rain caused the race to be halted on Sunday before the second stage had been completed, at which point the race would have been deemed official.

In addition to the suspension of the April Bristol race and several other weather delays and race start time changes throughout the season, there has been one postponed race and one shortened race so far in 2018.

The race at Martinsville Speedway in March was scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 25, but it was postponed until Monday, March 26 because of snow. The race at Michigan International Speedway in June was scheduled to last for 200 laps on Sunday, June 10, but it was ended after 133 laps. The second stage had been completed by the time the action was halted due to rain, so the race was not resumed on Monday, June 11.

Qualifying for tomorrow’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race is still scheduled to get underway at 5:40 p.m. ET this evening, and it is scheduled to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network.

Tonight’s Xfinity Series race at the track, the Food City 300, is scheduled to get underway at 7:28 p.m. ET as opposed to its initially scheduled time of 7:43 p.m. ET, and it is also scheduled to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network.

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Be sure to tune in to NBC Sports Network tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. ET for the live broadcast of the 2018 Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race from Bristol Motor Speedway.

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