2014 NASCAR at Bristol Motor Speedway: Rain continues to be a problem for NASCAR

After the 2014 NASCAR season started with a rain delay for the Daytona 500 and a rain shortened Nationwide race at Phoenix International Raceway, I was hoping the rain free racing we had last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was going to start a new weather trend for NASCAR. As NASCAR returns east to Bristol Motor Speedway, rain continues to make headlines this weekend as it threatens the Sprint Cup race on Sunday.

Weather is not a concern for Friday and Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway. You can get the complete weather forecast for Friday and Saturday below.

Storm system coming out of Texas on Saturday will begin to spread a large area of steady rain across Tennessee Sunday morning and continue into Sunday afternoon and evening. This looks like an all day kind of rain but the forecast data has been showing the possibility of a break in the rain by Sunday evening. With Bristol having light and Air Titan being at the track, if there is a large enough window, NASCAR could potentially get the race in but a lot of things would have to go right in order for that to happen.

IS SUNDAY’S RACE AT BRISTOL WASHOUT? I don’t like to throw out the term “washout” when talking about a NASCAR race. The daylight hours of Sunday definitely look like a wash as I expect rain from 7 a.m. Sunday morning all the way into Sunday evening. The forecast models are hinting at a possible break in the rain by around 8 p.m. Sunday night but my concern is even with lights and AirTitan the window won’t be big enough to get an official race in let alone a full race complete. Odds of racing Sunday (including racing under the lights), around 30 percent.

WHAT DOES MONDAY’S FORECAST LOOK LIKE? It’s going to wet Sunday, that’s what all the data I’ve looked at says as well as fellow meteorologist I have talked to about this forecast. While it seems like a long shot, there are scenarios where NASCAR gets the Sprint Cup race in on Sunday, but if they don’t they would have to try on Monday.

Monday’s weather forecast is still calling for areas of rain and even possible morning snow showers but the threat of precipitation becomes less as we head into the afternoon and evening. If NASCAR were to reschedule the Bristol race to Monday afternoon, they would have a much better shot of getting a full race in than if they tried on Sunday.

Race Schedule: All Times Eastern

FRIDAY:
12:00 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup Series practice – Mostly sunny and cool – temp: 48
1:40 p.m EDT
Nationwide Series practice – Breezy and mostly sunny – temp: 56
3:00 p.m EDT
Nationwide Series Final practice – Breezy and mostly sunny – temp: 57
4:40 p.m ET
Sprint Cup Qualifying – Breezy and partly sunny – temp: 60
SATURDAY:
9:00 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup Series practice – Sun and clouds – temp: 43
10:10 p.m EDT
Nationwide Series qualifying – Sun and clouds – temp: 45
12:00 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup Series final practice – Sun and clouds – temp: 53
2:00 p.m EDT
Nationwide Series race – Sun and clouds – temp: 59

SUNDAY:
11 a.m EDT
Sprint Cup pre-race – Rain – temp: 47
12 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup pre-race – Rain – temp: 49
1 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup race – Rain – temp: 49
2 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup race – Rain – temp: 50
3 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup race – Rain – temp: 51
4 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup race – Rain – temp: 50
6 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup race – Rain – temp: 48
8 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup race – Cloudy, chance of showers – temp: 46
10 p.m EDT
Sprint Cup race – Cloudy, chance of showers – temp: 44
MONDAY Weather Forecast:
Showers possible in the morning,diminishing in the afternoon. mostly cloudy. – High: 49