NASCAR At Watkins Glen: 2011 Start Time, Starting Lineup, TV/Radio Listings And More

***SUNDAY NIGHT UPDATE*** The Watkins Glen NASCAR race has been postponed until Monday morning. Click here for more information.

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It’s NASCAR race day at Watkins Glen, and we’ve got the actual race start time, the starting lineup and some other facts about today’s road course action for you below.

Start time: The command to start engines will be given by the Travel Channel’s Man v. Food Nation host Adam Richman at 1:08 p.m. Eastern time. After a couple pace laps, honorary starter Barry Hendrickson (a Heluva Good! contest winner) will wave the green flag at 1:18 p.m. Eastern. So if you want to skip the pre-race show and just tune in for the race, flip on your TV set at 1:18. There’s a catch for the Watkins Glen race, though: The weather is not expected to be good and it’s possible the race may be delayed or postponed.

Race name/distance: The “Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips At The Glen” is unusual in that it’s virtually the same length as Saturday’s Nationwide Series race. The Sprint Cup race is 90 laps (Nationwide was 82), which totals 220.5 miles. Of course, NASCAR would probably just be happy to get to the halfway point today given the weather forecast.

TV and radio: Today marks the third race of ESPN’s portion of the NASCAR season. Every Cup race will be on either ESPN or ABC for the rest of the year. If you aren’t near a TV, the radio broadcast can be found on your local Motor Racing Network (MRN) affiliate. Click here to see a list of stations where you can listen.

National anthem: Taylor Acorn, a 17 year old who won a local talent competition, is singing the anthem today. She’s planning to try out for American Idol, so she could be worth watching.

Tickets: There are still tickets remaining for the Watkins Glen, so you should be safe if you want to take the chance by walking up to the ticket window on race day.

Weather: It’s not looking good. According to the unofficial NASCAR weatherman, there was a near-certain chance of rain at race time (as of Saturday morning). The forecast had softened as of Saturday night, but it’s still not great.

Last time: One year ago, Juan Pablo Montoya won his second career Sprint Cup Series race, completing the career sweep of NASCAR’s Cup road courses. Marcos Ambrose and Kurt Busch are the favorites for today’s race.

Starting lineup for today’s NASCAR race at Watkins Glen: