Is NASCAR’s return to racing in jeopardy?
By Asher Fair
Just when NASCAR seems to have social distancing down pat, rain and thunderstorms threaten the sport’s return to action at Darlington Raceway.
Things seemed to go off without a hitch at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, May 17 as the NASCAR Cup Series raced for the first time in 10 weeks.
Sunday’s 293-lap race, the The Real Heroes 400, at the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) oval in Darlington, South Carolina was the first race contested since the coronavirus pandemic brought the season to a halt following the fourth race at Phoenix Raceway back on Sunday, March 8.
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick emerged victorious over Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman to secure his first victory of the season and maintain his lead in the championship standings over Bowman in second place.
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The plan had been and still is for the Cup Series to run another race at the track “Too Tough To Tame” tomorrow evening. Additionally, the Xfinity Series is scheduled to end a 73-day hiatus that began after the race at Phoenix Raceway back on Saturday, March 7 with a race at the track this evening.
Unfortunately, a world with the threat of COVID-19 doesn’t mean a world without rain. Despite the fact that NASCAR seemed to do a great job with enforcing social distancing on Sunday, rain and thunderstorms could very well put the next plans to return to action on hold.
According to The Weather Channel, there is 90% chance of rain with thunderstorms this evening (100% during the day) in Darlington and a 100% chance tomorrow evening (100% during the day as well).
According to Motorsport, a postponed Xfinity Series race would be run at 4:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 21. A Cup Series backup plan is unknown.
But there is a 50% chance of rain with thunderstorms on Thursday evening (90% during the day). That increases to an 80% chance on Friday evening (40% during the day).
Of course, weather forecasts are not always right. But things don’t exactly look promising.
NASCAR is scheduled to move north to Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend with a packed schedule, so there is very little flexibility with the schedule over these next few days if postponements end up taking place.
The four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval in Concord, North Carolina is scheduled to host a Cup Series race on Sunday, May 24, an Xfinity Series race on Monday, May 25, a Truck Series race on Tuesday, May 26 and another Cup Series race on Wednesday, May 27, and the schedule beyond this four-day span is packed with races at several different venues as well.
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Tonight’s Xfinity Series race, the Toyota 200, is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET, not the originally scheduled 8:00 p.m. ET, due to the threat of rain and thunderstorms. Tomorrow night’s Cup Series race, the Toyota 500, is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET. Those plans are subject to change.