NASCAR Cup Series

NASCAR hoping to race tonight as forecast is looking up at Charlotte

Published Oct. 20, 2016 4:28 p.m. ET

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Tom Jensen

The forecast is looking up at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which is scheduled to host the Bank of America 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race tonight at 6:45 p.m. ET.

There was no on-track activity at CMS on Friday because of rain from Hurricane Matthew and rain is expected to continue at the track for most of this morning and afternoon as well.

But the outlook for tonight is considerably better.

As of 8:15 a.m. ET, weather.com is calling for the rain to end by 8 p.m. tonight, possibly sooner. NASCAR has a fleet of Air Titans at its disposal, which means they should be able to dry the track in 90 minutes to two hours after the rain stops.

The forecast, of course, is subject to change, but hopefully there will be racing tonight.

The Bank of America 500 is the first race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Round of 12. All 12 championship contenders enter the race tied with 3,000 points each.

Kevin Harvick will start on the pole in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. He’ll be flanked by Alex Bowman, who again is filling in for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

With no practice on Friday and no rubber on the track for the start of the race, the teams will have a challenge to get setups right, especially early.

“It’s going to be a little bit of a guess as to where the car needs to be for Saturday night,” said Harvick. “So, I think there’s a lot of good teams and a lot of good engineers that can hit it spot-on for the race.”

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