Bristol Motor Speedway’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race faces a possible rain delay Saturday night, a development that would stall Kyle Larson’s run from the pole position.
Storms rolling through East Tennessee threaten more than a soaked grandstand. They could scramble strategy for every driver chasing ground in NASCAR’s Chase field before the laps run out. The track went into a lightning hold about 2 ½ hours before the scheduled green flag.
“Strong showers are north & NW of the track, moving south at 20 mph. Gusty winds and small hail are possible,” reported RaceWeather at around 5 p.m.. “These storms are expected to weaken around sunset. Some delays are possible early in the race; Wet-weather tires are available for tonight’s race”
Bristol Motor Speedway’s Weather Forecast Tonight
Saturday started dry around Bristol. Mostly sunny skies pushed highs into the mid-to-upper 80s, with barely any rain on the radar through early afternoon.
That changed as the sun dropped. Forecasters raised the chance of showers and thunderstorms to 40 percent through Saturday evening, according to WeatherBug, with skies turning mostly cloudy and temperatures easing into the mid-60s overnight. Patchy fog is possible after midnight, right in the window a delayed race might still be running.
“Getting some drops and under a lightning hold here at Bristol as far as any activities,” reported motorsports insider Bob Pockrass at about 5 p.m. ET.
Lightning also chased fans from the grandstands Friday afternoon, and NASCAR never got Cup cars back out for practice or qualifying. Officials set Saturday’s starting lineup by owner points and recent finishes, according to NASCAR.com, putting Larson up front with Joey Logano alongside him and Chase leader Denny Hamlin lined up third.
What A Rain Delay Means For Larson And Chase Field
Larson arrives rolling. He won last Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway and sits just nine points off the Chase lead.
“Always coming into here, I feel confident,” Larson said, as quoted by NASCAR.com. “I do believe we can come here and have a good weekend.”
Chase Briscoe starts 26th, Chase Elliott 27th, Daniel Suárez 28th and Ryan Blaney 29th, all needing a big Saturday whether the race runs clean or gets delayed by rain.
That group has the most to lose from a shortened night. A rain-truncated race locks in track position at whatever lap it stops, and passing at Bristol’s tight half-mile bowl only gets harder from there.
NASCAR works off a hard threshold. A race becomes official once it reaches halfway or the end of Stage 2, whichever comes first, and if rain wipes out the rest, whoever’s leading at that moment wins. Whether the Bristol event has reached that benchmark won’t be known until later Saturday night.
Anything short of that threshold means red flags, jet dryers and Air Titans working the concrete, then a restart once officials call the surface safe. NASCAR will try to finish the same night before it ever discusses pushing the race to Sunday.
A new rule works in the leaders’ favor. NASCAR handed crew chiefs, not race control, the call on when to switch from wet-weather tires to slicks, according to NASCAR.com’s Zach Sturniolo, a change that puts Bristol’s late-race strategy squarely in teams’ hands rather than officials’.
For now, the Bass Pro Shops Night Race awaits a letup in the lightning, Larson’s pole run on hold and Bristol’s playoff picture no clearer. Whether the Saturday night race wraps up tonight or bleeds into Sunday, Mother Nature isn’t done deciding who gets a real shot at NASCAR’s championship round.
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