After 23 laps a downpour forced the postponement of Sunday’s NASCAR race at Bristol Motor Speedway and may have contributed to a crash involving Team Penske drivers Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.
Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano crash; rain causes Bristol delay
A wreck involving teammates Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano may have been caused by rain, which has delayed Sunday’s race at Bristol.
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The rain began falling early in the morning, with periods of intermittent showers causing the original start time of 1:13 p.m. ET to get pushed back. Around 1:30 a break in the rain and the appearance of the sun prompted NASCAR to deploy several Air Titans to aid in drying the half-mile track.
Despite the ominous forecast and some reports of light showers, shortly after 2 p.m. ET NASCAR scrambled drivers to their cars and waved the green flag roughly 30 minutes later.
Nineteen laps into the scheduled 500-lap event, Brad Keselowski was working around slower traffic when he broke loose exiting Turn 4. Keselowski spun into the path of Joey Logano, who also drivers for Team Penske. Both cars sustained significant damage with Logano immediately bringing his Ford to the garage for repairs.
More on NASCAR weather
“Don’t know what happened,” Keselowski radioed to his over after the accident. “It just took off on me. Sorry about that, guys.”
As the race was under caution the skies again opened up causing NASCAR to issue a red flag. Keselowski was uncertain if the rain played a part in his accident, though he said it had been misting since the start.
“It’s been raining since we started the race -- it was a really light sprinkle,” Keselowski told Fox Sports. “The track was barely dry, the rain was coming in-and-out. The car just took off on me. I’d like to blame the rain, but I honestly don’t know. Usually when a car gets that far sideways and it’s out of nowhere, there’s a reason behind it. I really hate I tore up my teammate in the process. It’s really a bummer. I felt like I had a normal line and it just moved crazy sideways on me.
“I hate racing in the rain, but I understand the position NASCAR is in that they want to get the race going. It’s one of those days when it’s going to keep raining on-and-off and we’re trying to get as many laps in as we can. But we’re racing in the rain and that’s what happens.”
Officials have not announced a rescheduled start time for the Food City 500, but if threatening weather persists the conclusion will likely move to Monday at 11 a.m. ET.
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