What’s Happening?

The NASCAR circus heads to Kansas Speedway this weekend, but, the weather looks quite iffy. With a busy day scheduled for Saturday, and rain in the forecast for both Saturday and Sunday, what will NASCAR’s protocol be?

Weather Forecast for Kansas NASCAR Weekend

• Unlike Daytona earlier this year, the rain appears to be more isolated. Therefore, NASCAR has some flexibility for the rain should it come.
• Kansas Speedway does have lights, but, teams are not bringing rain tires. Therefore, NASCAR has flexibility with time, but, not with racing through the weather itself.
• Fans are not too worried about the weather for this weekend, at least not yet. Thanks to the lights at Kansas, NASCAR has the flexibility to make sure the race happens.

Read Also:

Kansas NASCAR Weekend Primer: TV Schedule, Race Info, Entry Lists, and More

Saturday

The most likely time for rain this weekend is on Saturday morning, which is when NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series practice and Qualifying is scheduled. The schedule is packed throughout Saturday with on-track activity scheduled all day locally onward. The only downtime is between sessions.

If Truck Series qualifying is washed out, there’s no real way it could be rescheduled with two races and Cup Series qualifying happening that same day. The ARCA Race should start right as the rain chance goes down, and the buffer of time between sessions should allow the race to happen.

It will take likely 1.5 to 2 hours to dry the race track after a rainstorm, so, ARCA would need to start around 2 local at the latest to race on Saturday afternoon. If not, it could be pushed to Sunday night after the Truck Series race, like Daytona was, or maybe Sunday morning before the Cup Series race.

The Truck Series race should go off without a hitch. The rain chance drops below 10% after 7 PM so, even if there is a delay, the Truck Series race should happen at some point.

Sunday

How Does NASCAR Dry a Wet Race Track?

Sunday is a strange day as the rain forecast is primarily hit-or-miss. It’s roughly a 40% chance in the afternoon with a slight downturn after sunset. NASCAR is likely in wait-and-see mode with this weather, but, they probably want the race to happen on Sunday as the Monday forecast calls for more rain.

Thankfully, Kansas Speedway does have lights, so, a night race could happen if necessary. Again, with around 1.5 to 2 hours to dry the track, rain would need to stop around Noon local for the track to dry. For a race to happen on Sunday, NASCAR would likely push as late as Midnight local for a finish, meaning the rain would have to stop around maybe 7:00 PM local for a race to happen.

Given the nature of the rain forecasted, it’s tough to predict what exactly will happen. There could be isolated showers that pop up here and there, which mess with track drying, and the potential of thunderstorms means a lightning delay is possible.

Overall, it’s tough to predict exactly what we will see, but, it seems most likely that a race does happen on Sunday. Does it happen on time? That’s the question.