NASCAR: What happens if Darlington race gets rained out?

If tonight’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway gets rained out, how does the forecast look as far as rescheduling is concerned?

After NASCAR’s return to racing went off without a hitch this past Sunday, May 17 with a Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway, the first live action in 10 weeks, NASCAR has been put in a bit of a predicament.

NASCAR’s return to racing schedule included 19 races across the Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Truck Series over a span of just 36 days through Sunday, June 21. This schedule includes multiple days with multiple races and several weeknight events.

But yesterday’s Toyota 200 Xfinity Series race at the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) egg-shaped oval in Darlington, South Carolina was rained out and moved to tomorrow afternoon at 12:00 p.m. ET.

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It had originally been scheduled to take place at 8:00 p.m. ET yesterday evening before NASCAR moved it up by two hours to 6:00 p.m. ET to try to combat the threat of rain, but the time change ended up making no difference.

The forecast for tonight’s Toyota 500 Cup Series race, which NASCAR has already moved up by an hour and a half from 7:30 p.m. ET to 6:00 p.m. ET for the same reason, doesn’t look much more promising.

Neither does the forecast for tomorrow.

Because of NASCAR’s packed schedule, there is very little flexibility as far as rescheduling races for the near future is concerned. After this week, NASCAR is scheduled to travel north to Charlotte Motor Speedway for four consecutive days of racing from Sunday, May 24 to Wednesday, May 27, and it doesn’t stop there.

According to The Weather Channel, tonight’s weather forecast for Darlington includes a 90% chance of rain and thunderstorms. Tomorrow’s includes an 90% chance of the same during the day and a 50% chance at night.

Should the Xfinity Series race (and possibly Cup Series race if tonight’s gets postponed) not be able to take place tomorrow either, Friday’s weather forecast includes only a 40% chance of rain and thunderstorms during the day but a 60% chance at night.

Whether or not NASCAR would even entertain the idea of running at Darlington Raceway on Saturday before moving to Concord, North Carolina on Saturday night for Sunday’s race remains to be seen. But if they were to consider it, Saturday’s weather forecast includes only a 20% chance of rain and thunderstorms during the day and a 40% chance at night.

So NASCAR’s options would be even more limited than they already are, but they would still exist, even if tonight’s event ends up being a wash as many expect.

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Nevertheless, as of now, be sure to tune in to Fox Sports 1 tonight at 6:00 p.m. ET for the live broadcast of the Toyota 500 Cup Series race and tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. ET for the live broadcast of the Toyota 200 Xfinity Series race from “The Lady in Black”, and let’s all hope and pray for the best.

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