NASCAR Cup Series

UPDATE: Rain wreaks havoc on Bristol race

Published Mar. 15, 2014 9:46 a.m. ET

foxsports

UPDATED: As of 1 p.m. Sunday, steady rain falling at Bristol Motor Speedway has delayed the start of this afternoon's Food City 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

According to weather.com, the chance of rain at the track is 85 percent to 100 percent from 2 – 7 p.m. ET, when it drops to 70 percent. The National Weather Service also puts the chance of rain on Sunday at near 100 percent.

But shortly before 2 p.m. ET, the rain let up, NASCAR put its Air Titan track dryers to work and there was optimism that the race might get run after all.

NASCAR has its Air Titan drying system on hand at all tracks this year and Bristol dries quickly because it's short at 0.533 miles in length and steeply banked. Still, you can't dry the track until the rain stops.

Late Saturday afternoon, BMS General Manager Jerry Caldwell issued the following statement: "By now nearly everyone has seen Sunday's weather forecast and expressed questions regarding plans. NASCAR has a nearly 70-year history of working with tracks to get races in on the scheduled date. In Bristol Motor Speedway, we have a track that dries in less than an hour, equipment here to do it and lights that allow us to go well into the evening. We are very hopeful and fully intend to run the Food City 500 (Sunday). If by chance that does not happen, we are prepared to race Monday at noon. But that is a backup plan we hope to not need."

Stay tuned to FOXSports.com for weather updates.