NASCAR elected to make an early call on postponing the NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire to Monday. The decision was understandable given the forecast for the rest of the day. However, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a, quite frankly hilarious, rant about NASCAR racing in the rain, or, lack thereof.
Earnhardt Jr. had a couple of hilarious metaphors to describe NASCAR testing wet weather tires, but not actually using them at New Hampshire last weekend. He even stated that, at the race track, the weather seemed good enough to run in the damp conditions once the afternoon came around.
NASCAR has tried this before on oval tracks on two separate occasions. First in the Truck Series at Martinsville, and second at the All-Star Heat Races at North Wilkesboro. Both races were not held in the rain, but they were held when the rain stopped with the track being damp.
If the race track was able to be run on during the afternoon, then why did NASCAR choose not to? Dale Earnhardt Jr. even raises that question. What is the point of having these types of tires and equipment if they are not going to be used?
Earnhardt Jr. even mentioned that he felt the track was able to be run on. He was there on Sunday afternoon, he thought this would be the perfect scenario
This is part of why NASCAR has typically taken a while to postpone races due to weather. They want to do everything they can to get a race in on its scheduled date at its scheduled time. That was the point of putting wet weather tires on short tracks to begin with.
However, there is more to this debate than may meet the eye. The idea of racing in the damp is not a cut and dry debate.
Earnhardt Jr. did mention that he felt that NASCAR had good reasons to postpone the race, particularly discussing the fans. One thing he did not get into was the flooding across the Northeast over the weekend. Is it really smart to ask fans to drive out to the race track when there could be flooding happening in the area?
That is just a dangerous ask for many. Especially considering that New Hampshire Motor Speedway is out in the middle of nowhere. It’s not an easy trek for some fans.
Earnhardt Jr. did bring up the point that Dale Jarrett mentioned about whether or not fans would actually come out to watch a race in the rain. It’s not a guarantee that fans would come out to a race that was run in the rain. Have you ever seen a Major League Baseball game in the rain and how few people come out to many of those games?
It’s complicated, and NASCAR is just not the same as other racing series. Is it really smart to race in the rain at somewhere like Daytona where speeds are around 190 mph? NASCAR already has wet weather contingencies at tracks with lower speeds.
Even then, racing in damp conditions is not an easy ask. It’s not an ideal scenario, and it also does not allow the cars to perform to their full capability. Could NASCAR be more aggressive with racing in the conditions? Maybe, but they also should err on the side of caution in these scenarios in the interests of driver safety.
