Cup Series race at Dover postponed due to weather
DOVER, Del. — With rain pelting Dover Motor Speedway and the forecast for the rain continuing for several hours, NASCAR officials postponed the Cup Series race Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway.
The 400-lap race on the 1-mile concrete oval is rescheduled for Monday at noon E.T. on FS1.
It is the second consecutive year and third time since 2019 that a Dover race has been rained out. It is the first Cup race this year to be postponed because of rain.
With Dover not having lights and likely a cloud cover requiring the race to be finished by 7:30 p.m. E.T., NASCAR would have needed to start the race by 4:30 p.m. at the very latest. With it taking 90 minutes or more to dry the track after heavy rains that weren't going to end by mid-afternoon, NASCAR opted to scrap the race nearly three hours before the scheduled green flag.
FOX Weather predicts temperatures in the low-60s with a 5 percent chance of rain for Monday, meaning the full race should run as rescheduled. The 400-lap race would be official anytime after 200 laps if rains came and the event could not be restarted.
Drivers will have a challenge as the heavy rains have washed all the rubber off the track. In their 20-minute practice Saturday, drivers had issues with tires wearing to the cords.
NASCAR likely will have a competition caution early in the event for teams to check their tires.
"It's going to be a bit rough to start," said Kyle Busch, who starts from the pole. "[We'll] probably need a competition caution -- don't ask me what lap number to put it on because I don't want to be the one that's on the hook for what lap, over or under, that the tires will blow.
"You're definitely going to need a competition caution or two."
Busch was awarded the pole when a mist Saturday resulted in NASCAR scrapping qualifying. The starting lineup was determined by NASCAR's metric — 50 percent on the finish of the previous race (25 percent driver, 25 percent car owner), 35 percent on where the car ranks in owner points and 15 percent on where the driver ranked on the fastest lap chart from the previous race.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass, and sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass.
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