Just as the race was about to get started NASCAR waved off the Bass Pro Shops Bristol Night Race due to rain in the area. One of the best atmospheres in all of NASCAR, this race is going to be a lot of fun once it gets going. 500 laps of action in this elimination race.
While Bristol is a short track, the Night Race is not able to handle rain tires. With the high banks and speeds at the track, the rain tires will not work. NASCAR has the intermediate package on these cars and that is how the race will be run.
Drivers were told to fire their engines for the Bristol Night Race, then told to turn them off. In total, they had to fire and refire engines three times before they made caution laps. This is one reason why NASCAR moved the original start time up an hour, in case weather like this moved into the area.
That mountain rain crept in, went away, and came back. Team Penske isn’t happy.
After running some caution laps to test the track, NASCAR brought drivers back to pit road to wait. Some drivers wanted to get going, others thought it was raining too much. This Bristol Night Race is going to be a long one and NASCAR wants to make sure the race gets completed.
It can be frustrating. Weather is not easy to predict in the Tennessee mountains. Bristol Night Race usually has some kind of weather issues. However, we are close to getting this race started and eliminating four Cup Series Playoff drivers.
Christopher Bell leadsBristol Night Race to green
About 10 minutes after 7:00 p.m. we got the green flag to drop in this race. Christopher Bell for the third time in three weeks is the pole sitter. He’s hoping to have a more complete race than he has had in the last two weeks. Bristol isn’t the easiest place to do that.
Denny Hamlin starts on the front row with Bell and it will be a very Toyota-heavy race. Ty Gibbs and Bubba Wallace, Martin Truex Jr., even Tyler Reddick are all top-10 cars early on in this race. While the track will change a ton in the night, expect Toyota to be involved with this one late.
If Bell doesn’t have a good Bristol Night Race, he could be eliminated from the playoffs. He was a two-time winner last postseason and did it with his back against the wall facing elimination. He isn’t in a must-win situation right now, but he could get into a sticky situation before this race is over.
With rain threatening the race throughout the night, we will keep our eyes open for more weather issues and delays. It might be a long night in the mountains of East Tennessee.
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