NASCAR Cup Series: 2018 Brickyard 400 postponed until Monday

The final race of the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series regular season, the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard, has been postponed until Monday.

In addition to qualifying for the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series regular season finale, the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard, more commonly known as the Brickyard 400, being canceled yesterday because of rain, the Xfinity Series race, the Lilly Diabetes 250, was postponed from yesterday until tomorrow for the same reason.

Now the Brickyard 400 is set to join the 100-lap Xfinity Series race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana tomorrow. The Lilly Diabetes 250 is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. ET and the Brickyard 400 is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. ET.

The 160-lap race around Indianapolis Motor Speedway was originally scheduled to begin today at 2:00 p.m. ET. However, a threatening weather forecast caused the call to be made yesterday to move the race and all pre-race ceremonies and festivities up by one hour, meaning the race was scheduled to get underway at 1:00 p.m. ET this afternoon.

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This change in start time did no good, as rain continued to fall on the 2.5-mile oval to the point where even if the track dried up after the rain was expected to end at around or before 4:00 p.m. ET, it would not have dried up in time for the race to be completed, as it would have gotten dark and there are no lights at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The Brickyard 400 is one of many races that have had their start and/or finish times altered so far this season as a result of rain. Most notably, the March race at Martinsville Speedway was scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 25, but it did not end up taking place until Monday, March 26 because of snow.

The April race at Bristol Motor Speedway was scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 15. A lot of it did take place on that date, but because of the fact that stage two of the race had not yet been completed by the time rain caused the series to end the on-track action for the day, the race was suspended until Monday, April 16, when it was then completed.

Finally, the June race at Michigan International Speedway was scheduled to be a 200-lap race on Sunday, June 10. The race took place on that date, but because of the fact that the race was unable to continue after 133 laps, the race was ended. Stage two had been completed at that point, otherwise the race would have been forced to continue on Monday, June 11.

Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch are set to start the Lilly Diabetes 250 and the Brickyard 400 from the pole position in their #22 Ford and #18 Toyota, respectively, when those races get underway tomorrow.

Be sure to tune in to NBC Sports Network tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. ET for the live broadcast of the Lilly Diabetes 250, and be sure to stay tuned in tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 p.m. ET for the live broadcast of the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard.