Biggest weather challenge facing NASCAR for Sunday running of Coca-Cola 600
NASCAR is facing many challenges from the weather in attempting to run the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway Sunday.
Waiting for rainfall to dissipate is one thing, and obviously needed for NASCAR to wave the green flag. Drying the 1.5-mile oval is another, and could be the most daunting task of all. Per Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports, the updated forecast calls for rainfall to stop around 7-8 p.m. ET. However, the combination of high humidity and no wind could make drying the track a challenge.
“Forecasts say possible rain ends 7-8pm but humidity/no wind could make track drying a challenge,” Pockrass tweeted. “My guess: NASCAR won’t start much later than 9p (b/c that targets end around 1:30am), so likely needs to stop raining by around 7p So TBD when they would know that with certainty.”
Mother nature has impacted the weekend’s events, forcing the Xfinity Series race scheduled for Saturday to be moved to Monday. Additionally, Cup Series qualifying for the Coca-Cola 600 was postponed. Hours ahead of the 6 p.m. ET scheduled start time, the forecast remains much of the same: steady rain expected to dissipate in the later evening.
In order for NASCAR to get the race in before postponing it to Monday, Pockrass predicts they would have to get the race underway by around 9 p.m. Depending on wind and humidity, the track could take anywhere from 90-150 minutes to dry. That means NASCAR will likely need rainfall to stop around 7 p.m.
Can William Byron go wire-to-wire in Coca-Cola 600?
Whenever the Coca-Cola 600 commences, one thing is for certain: William Byron will be the pole-sitter. The starting lineup was automatically set as a result of the cancellation of qualifying, leading to Byron getting the nod.
“Byron won the Cup Series’ most recent points race at Darlington Raceway and leads the series with three victories in 2023,” NASCAR said in a press release. “The performance metric based on Darlington sets the starting lineup for the longest race of the schedule, factoring 15% of fastest lap time position, 25% of the driver’s final race finish position, 25% of the owner’s final race finish position and 35% of the owner points position.”
Byron is the only three-time winner in the Cup Series this season and sits fifth in the points standings.
“We will take it any way we can get it,” Byron said, via ESPN.
Byron will hope to have the same luck as Denny Hamlin, who started the 2022 Coca-Cola 600 as the leader and finished it as the winner. Hamlin will start 4th, looking for his second victory of the season.