Dover Motor Speedway and rain, unfortunately, tend to go hand in hand in recent years. With rain forecast all weekend, and the lack of lights, Dover is changing their NASCAR race weekend schedule.
As a result, everything moves up an hour as Sunday’s Cup Series race will start at 1:00 PM ET on FS1. If rain is expected, NASCAR can bump up a race by up to an hour, given fans have over 24 hours notice.
Given the 90% chance of rain expected for Sunday, it’s not a guarantee the green flag will fly at 1:11. Although that extra hour might be the difference in having an official race (either by reaching halfway or finishing all 400 miles) or delay and finish on Monday.
As of now, the other races on the schedule remain unchanged. The ARCA East race is set for Friday at 5:30 PM ET (80% chance of rain), while the Xfinity race will take place Saturday at 1:30 (50% chance of rain).
If rain impacts Sunday’s race, it would be the fourth spring Dover race impacted by rain since 2017. In 2019 and 2022, rain pushed the race to Monday.
If the race is postponed to Monday, NASCAR should be able to get the race in. There will be cloudy conditions, but no rain is expected.
[NASCAR]