NASCAR: A nice surprise for Bristol Motor Speedway

After a rain-soaked return to racing for NASCAR, there is a 0% chance of rain for today’s Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Rain and NASCAR have gone together quite well so far in the 2020 season, especially since the sport has returned to action following a 10-week hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

There have been four Cup Series races contested since the sport returned two weeks ago at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, May 17: two at Darlington Raceway and two at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The first race at Darlington Raceway went off without a hitch. However, that has not been the case for any of the races which have been contested since then, but not for reasons related to COVID-19.

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Rain forced the second race at Darlington Raceway on Wednesday, May 20 to be delayed. Even after NASCAR moved to the start time up in an attempt to combat the threat of bad weather, the race ended up not getting underway until after it was initially scheduled to begin.

Then it was forced to end early due to more rain.

NASCAR’s stay at Darlington Raceway ended up being extended by a day anyway, as the Xfinity Series race was unable to be contested on Tuesday, May 19 as originally scheduled; it was bumped back to Thursday, May 21.

Skip ahead to Sunday, May 24 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The race got underway, but the rains came down and caused a red flag, which lasted over an hour. Thanks to this stoppage, the race didn’t finish until the wee hours of Monday, May 25.

Then on Wednesday, May 27, there was scheduled to be another race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Those plans were abandoned due to rain, and the race was bumped back by a day.

The race got underway on Thursday, May 28, but that didn’t last long. Lightning in the area and more rain caused another stoppage of over an hour, further extending NASCAR’s visit to the track. The race did conclude that evening.

Even before the pandemic struck, there were races altered due to bad weather. The season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway was suspended on Sunday, February 16 and finished the next day, and qualifying for the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was rained out on Saturday, February 22.

But at Bristol Motor Speedway, NASCAR is set for a rare surprise.

According to The Weather Channel, there is a 0% chance of rain from 10:00 a.m. ET this morning to 10:00 p.m. ET this evening.

Yes, 0%.

The 500-lap Food City presents the Supermarket Heroes 500 Cup Series race at the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) high-banked oval in Bristol, Tennessee is scheduled to get underway at 3:30 p.m. ET this afternoon.

Imagine that: 500 laps of racing without a raindrop in sight. It can be done.

The 300-lap Cheddar’s 300 presented by Alsco Xfinity Series race at the same venue was already technically impacted by weather, as NASCAR’s extended stay at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the travel and setup changes associated with it forced the race to be moved from yesterday afternoon to tomorrow evening.

However, even the weather forecast for that race looks promising. It is set to get underway at 7:00 p.m. ET, and there is a 0% chance of rain from 9:00 a.m. ET to 10:00 p.m. ET.

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Be sure not to miss either dry race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Both are set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1.

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