NASCAR has had a good run of seven weeks of mostly rain free weather. The only exceptions were the Cash at Daytona, a non-points race, and the Friday at Martinsville where practice and qualifying were both washed out. It appears the dry weather luck runs out at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend.
Bristol NASCAR weather: How wet of a race weekend can fans expect?
No matter where you look, the weekend weather forecast for Bristol looks wet, but how wet? NASCAR Weatherman, Meteorologist Brian Neudorff takes a look at what NASCAR and fans can expect.
So just how wet will it be this weekend?
Forecasting the weather around Bristol Motor Speedway is always complicated, especially when you are dealing with the terrain around the track. The mountains and hills that make up the region can give meteorologists fits. While we expect rain showers and storms to fall during the weekend not every moment of every day is soaking wet. We expect some dry time as we go through the weekend. The question is, which days are drier than the others?
Friday morning could be mostly dry as rain activity will increase into the afternoon and evening. This, as a cold front works into eastern Tennessee Friday afternoon and evening.
The same front lifts northward allowing for more moisture to spill in on Saturday. Saturday will feature more scattered “hit or miss” type showers and storms during the day with an increase in showers and storms late Saturday afternoon and Saturday night. The odds of racing the Xfinity race Saturday afternoon is around 50 to 60 percent with possible delays due to the weather.
The main weather event is a storm system moving in over the region Saturday night into Sunday. While timing looks to bring a cold front and storm center through sometimes Sunday morning, there is a possibility of lingering rain and drizzle Sunday afternoon. This is a more complicated forecast. I definitely expect some delays for Sunday, but the big question is whether NASCAR will postpone Sunday’s race to Monday or will it dry out enough to race on Sunday night.
Those decisions are not up to me. While I am not calling Sunday a wash, my current odds of racing the Monster Energy Cup Series Food City 500 is around 40 to 50 percent. Timing and how much lingering precipitation we have Sunday afternoon will be the biggest deciding factor. Personally, if I was going to Bristol on Sunday, I’d have a Monday backup plan.
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All times Eastern
FRIDAY:
11:30 a.m. — Cup series practice
Forecast: Mostly cloudy, chance of a shower or thunderstorm
Winds: SW 5-10 mph
Temperature: 74
1 p.m. — Xfinity series practice
Forecast: Mostly cloudy, Possible shower or thunderstorm
Winds: SW 5-10 mph
Temperature: 76
3:30 p.m. — Xfinity series final practice
Forecast: Mostly cloudy, Possible shower or thunderstorm
Winds: SW 5-10 mph
Temperature: 77
4:45 p.m. — Cup series qualifying
Forecast: Mostly cloudy, Possible shower or thunderstorm
Winds: SW 5-10 mph
Temperature: 75
SATURDAY:
8:30 a.m. — Cup series practice
Forecast: Mostly cloudy, chance of a shower or thunderstorm
Winds: SW 5-10 mph
Temperature: 61
9:35 a.m. — Xfinity series qualifying
Forecast: Mostly cloudy, chance of a shower or thunderstorm
Winds: SW 5-10 mph
Temperature: 64
11 a.m. — Cup series final practice
Forecast: Mostly cloudy, Possible shower or thunderstorm
Winds: SW 5-10 mph
Temperature: 68
1 p.m. — Xfinity race - Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300
Forecast: Mostly cloudy, Possible shower or thunderstorm
Winds: SW 5-10 mph
Temperature: 73
SUNDAY
1 p.m. — Food City 500 pre-race
Forecast: Cloudy - rain showers likely
Winds: NW 5-10 mph
Temperature: 64
2 p.m. — Food City 500
Forecast: Cloudy - rain showers likely
Winds: NW 5-10 mph
Temperature: 66
3 p.m. — Food City 500
Forecast: Cloudy - rain showers likely
Winds: NW 5-10 mph
Temperature: 68
4 p.m. — Food City 500
Forecast: Cloudy - scattered rain, possible drizzle
Winds: NW 5-10 mph
Temperature: 68
5 p.m. — Food City 500
Forecast: Cloudy - scattered rain, possible drizzle
Winds: North 5-10 mph
Temperature: 65
6 p.m. — Food City 500
Forecast: Mostly cloudy, chance of a shower
Winds: North 5-10 mph
Temperature: 65
7 p.m. — Food City 500
Forecast: Mostly cloudy, chance of a shower
Winds: North 5-10 mph
Temperature: 63
8 p.m. — Food City 500
Forecast: Mostly cloudy, chance of a shower
Winds: North 5-10 mph
Temperature: 62
MONDAY
11 a.m. — Food City 500 - Backup Date
Forecast: Sunshine and clouds, drier — chance of an isolated shower or two
Winds: NE 5-10 mph
Temperature: 61
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