With the forecast looking dire for Sunday, NASCAR has already adjusted the start time for the USA Today 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Start time is now going to be 2:06 PM EST on Sunday.
The weather is once again making things difficult at New Hampshire. This happens almost every year. This track is just in a strange place when it comes to weather. No matter what, it feels like the rain is always going to come.
NASCAR is doing all they can to get ahead of Mother Nature. Stay tuned for more updates on the USA Today 301.
Friday and Saturday have been plagued by rain. Both the Cup and Xfinity Series were able to get just a few laps worth, if that, of practice. Qualifying for both series was rained out as well. It means that the lineup is being set by the metric for both races.
In the Cup Series race, that means that Chase Elliott will lead the field to green. Elliott has been in the middle of a running joke since Friday. Christopher Bell let it slip that “Chase” would be at JGR next season. Everyone knows it is Briscoe, but it’s funnier to say that Elliott is taking over the 19 car in 2025.
While the rain is playing a factor, NASCAR is doing all they can to avoid it. Will we see the USA Today 301 on Sunday? Or is this a Monday race waiting to happen?
USA Today 301 start time moved up
The idea behind moving up the start time is to beat the sun. There are no lights at New Hampshire. When the track was built, it was agreed upon that they would not have night races ever at the venue. So, no lights, even now.
That means NASCAR not only has to beat Mother Nature but also race against the sun. It is not an easy situation for them to try and predict what the weather is going to do when they also have to worry about daylight.
The USA Today 301 could very well happen on Monday. Last year’s Cup Series race happened on Monday. The only good thing about the no lights thing is that this race will be called relatively early in the day.
Buckle up, folks. This one could get weirder as the hours go by. The rain has made a mess of things for now. But both the Xfinity and Cup Series have wet-weather tires at their disposal.
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