How Hurricane Matthew affects NASCAR’s schedule at Charlotte this weekend

Inclement weather originating from Hurricane Matthew has prompted NASCAR to postpone Saturday night’s Sprint Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway to Sunday afternoon.

The Bank of America 500, the opening race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup quarterfinal round, will start Sunday at noon ET and be televised by NBC. Forty-five minutes following the conclusion of the Sprint Cup race is the Xfinity Series, originally scheduled for Friday night but postponed after NASCAR canceled all on-track activity Friday. The Xfinity will be broadcast by NBCSN.

It marks the second straight week NASCAR’s top two divisions will have a doubleheader due to Mother Nature’s intervention. The Xfinity and Sprint Cup races were both held last Sunday at Dover International Speedway after rain washed out the Xfinity event on Saturday.

Classified as a Category 4 storm, Matthew devastated Cuba and Haiti when it struck the Caribbean islands earlier in the week, bringing sustained winds of 120 mph and torrential rain. The hurricane reached South Florida on Thursday, and dropped to a Category 3 Friday morning as it moved up the coast affecting Georgia and the Carolinas.

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency for the entire state Thursday. On Saturday morning, McCrory said Matthew’s impact was greater than initially expected and believed flooding and serious damage could stretch 100 miles inland.

Kevin Harvick won the top starting position for the Bank of America 500 in qualifying Thursday night, securing his first pole of the season with a lap of 196.029 mph. Alex Bowman, filling in for the injured Dale Earnhardt Jr., starts a career-best second.