NASCAR Cup Series

Rain delay: Bristol Motor Speedway waiting out wet weather

Published Apr. 19, 2015 9:41 a.m. ET

foxsports

The red flag is out for rain after just 23 laps of racing at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Food City 500 In Support of Steve Byrne and Stand Up To Cancer.

But after a delay of more than three hours, optimism increased that the race could be restarted tonight when the rain at least temporarily halted at about 5:45 p.m. and jet dryers returned to the track.

Even though rain also delayed the start of Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol, track general manager Jerry Caldwell said he and his staff remain committed to working with NASCAR to do everything they can to get the 500-lap event in.

If the race is resumed tonight, it will be televised on FOX Sports 1. If it gets postponed until Monday, it will be televised on FOX Sports.

After 23 laps under green following the intital delay Sunday, the skies opened again and another downpour commenced, bringing out the red flag at around 2:45 p.m. ET.

Caldwell said fans can keep up with updates on the track's website and social media accounts. According to weather.com, there is a window between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. where the rain is supposed to stop.

"If needed, we'll turn on the lights," Caldwell said.

The race is scheduled for 500 laps, but needs to be run only halfway to be declared official. NASCAR, however, has repeatedly said in the past that they would prefer to attempt running an entire event rather than to attempt having a race only partially completed.

Joe Gibbs Racing's Matt Kenseth started on the pole, but Kevin Harvick had taken the lead by the time the red flag dropped.

Weather.com listed the chance of rain for the Bristol area at 100 percent through 6 p.m. ET, dropping to 65 percent in the 7 p.m. hour before falling all the way to zero percent between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. It was to go back up to 50 percent with a chance of thundershowers after 10 p.m.

By 5:45 p.m, however, the rain had at least temporarily halted and jet dryers were back on the .533-mile track, increasing optimism that the race would be restarted tonight. The good news is that the Bristol short track dries more quickly than most other Sprint Cup tracks.