Bob Pockrass
FOX NASCAR Insider
BROOKLYN, Mich. — For the second straight year, rain has suspended the NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway, with Sunday’s race scheduled to resume at 11 a.m. ET Monday.
Sunday’s race began after a 2-hour, 19-minute interruption due to rain. The drivers completed 51 of the 200 laps (if they had completed 100 laps, it would have been an official race) before the rain returned.
The 2-mile oval in rural Michigan, about 50 miles west of Detroit, is a sprawling, unlit facility. NASCAR officials, anticipating more precipitation and a predetermined 8:20 p.m. Eastern time finish time due to darkness, felt they didn’t have enough time to dry the track and hold an official race.
FOX’s weather forecast for the area calls for temperatures around 60 degrees Fahrenheit and a 2% chance of rain for Monday. Chase Elliott will be the leader when the race resumes. Ryan Blaney won the first stage.
This is the second consecutive year that the annual Michigan Cup race has been disrupted by rain. Last year, the race was suspended due to rain after 74 laps and ended Monday.
This is the second Cup event to be postponed due to rain. The Daytona 500 was postponed until Monday to open the season. The preseason clash was held a day earlier than scheduled after dire forecasts of at least two days of heavy rain and possible flooding in the Los Angeles area.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including more than 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @Bobpockrass.
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