Why is NASCAR Southern 500 at Darlington Delayed Today? When Will it Restart?

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Why is the NASCAR Southern 500 at Darlington delayed today? Here’s the reason for the delay and the latest update on when the race will restart.

Darlington Raceway went under caution due to rain with 30 laps to go Sunday, and the Cook Out Southern 500 now sits on hold with rain coming down on the track. Drivers were told to stay in their cars as they idled on pit road.

The red flag went up at around 8:35 p.m. But the delay appeared to be a short one as radar showed storm cells clearing the track quickly. As of about 8:50, the red was lifted and some cars rolled onto the track, but the race remained under caution.

All but four drivers elected to pull onto pit road during the delay. Kyle Larson, Austin Cindric, Joey Logano, and Ryan Preece stayed out, according to reporter Bob Pockrass.

At 9 p.m. all cars were back on the track and the race restarted with 24 laps to go in the Southern 500.

Until the red flag came out, Darlington ranked No. 10 in terms of the longest time without one. But now Bristol Motor Speedway has moved into the 10th spot, according to reporter Luis Torres.

But Torres also reported that Sunday’s was the first red flag caused by rain at Darlington since 2020.

Chase points hang in the balance for all 16 title contenders, and if the delay did stretch out, Sunday night threatens to spill into a Monday finish.

NASCAR had already moved the green flag up 10 minutes to 5 p.m. ET, a preemptive strike against a forecast that only worsened as the sun went down, according to FOX Sports insider Bob Pockrass. The National Weather Service pegged Sunday afternoon at a 30 to 50 percent chance of storms, then raised the odds toward 70 percent by 9 p.m. as the system moved in, according to hour-by-hour models from MySportsWeather.com.

“Favorable environment as they track south, plenty of energy to be tapped for more showers and storms to develop,” meteorologist Brandon Lawson said, as quoted by Queen City News’ storm tracking coverage.

NASCAR built in a competition caution around lap 35 anyway, insurance for a field that never turned a wheel together after storms wiped out Saturday’s practice and qualifying, according to Jayski.com. Tyler Reddick starts from the pole as a result, with Daniel Suárez, Ryan Preece and Denny Hamlin rounding out the front two rows.

Why Wet-Weather Tires Stay in the Trailer

Goodyear’s treaded rain package exists for exactly one reason, getting cars back to racing on tracks too small and too slow for a full-speed oval sprint in the rain, according to a breakdown of the wet-weather package from The Daily Downforce. That covers road courses and short ovals of roughly a mile or less — Martinsville, Richmond, Phoenix, New Hampshire, North Wilkesboro among them.

Darlington’s egg-shaped 1.366 miles is too big. The speeds are too high, the tire wear too aggressive, for a tread pattern designed to dry a damp short track rather than survive a soaked intermediate. Every car on pit road tonight still wears the same dry Goodyear Racing Eagle slicks teams ran here in March.

That means standing water or poor visibility doesn’t trigger a tire change. It triggers a red flag. NASCAR parks the field, covers what it can, and waits for jet dryers to do the rest.

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What Happens If Darlington Doesn’t Finish Tonight

A Cup race becomes official once it passes halfway — 184 laps into this 367-lap Chase opener. Cross that threshold and NASCAR can call the race and hand out points as scored at the stoppage. Miss it, and the unraced distance carries over.

Darlington has lights, so a finish deep into Sunday night remains possible if the storms clear. If they don’t, NASCAR pushes the remainder — or the entire 367 laps, if the red flag comes early enough — to Monday, restarting cars in the running order at the moment they stopped.

Either way, the new Chase format keeps scoring the same. Hamlin’s regular-season title still buys him a 2,100-point head start and a 25-point cushion over Ryan Blaney, according to NASCAR’s breakdown of the new points system, and there are no eliminations before Homestead-Miami on Nov. 8. A rainout doesn’t erase a single point already earned. It only pushes back when the next ones get scored.

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