NASCAR Richmond International Raceway Race Day Weather Forecast 2012: Scattered Showers Tonight

Will it rain Saturday night for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway? That’s what everyone wants to know. Unfortunately, the answer isn’t a straight forward “yes” or” no.”

It all comes down to placement of a stalled boundary to the north of Virginia, and the timing of a system that will ride along this boundary Saturday afternoon and evening. Expect the day to start off dry with sunshine. As the day wears on, more clouds are likely, and there could even be a few showers that develop. If any rain does form in the afternoon, it would be isolated to scattered.

The chance of rain begins to increase later in the evening. It appears Richmond should be mostly dry and mostly cloudy at the start of the Capital City 400. As the evening progresses, the rain chances begin to increase.

Until we see when and where the rain will form, it’s a tough call about whether or not we will get the full 400 miles completed. As I have been telling many of my followers on Twitter: If I had tickets to the race and knowing what I do about the weather and this forecast, I would still go expecting to see racing Saturday night.

As far as rain postponing the race until Sunday, the odds of that look low. I would expect it to be in the 20 to 30 percent probability, with a good 70 percent probability we see at least an official race Saturday night.