Dancing With Idalia: Weather Forecast for Darlington NASCAR Weekend

Hurricane Idalia made its landfall on the Florida coast early Thursday morning before dancing its way up to none other than the Carolina coast, where NASCAR happens to be racing this weekend. Darlington International Raceway sits less than 2 hours from the South Carolina coast and has truly felt the impacts of Idalia. Bob Pockrass reports that the track received 6-8 inches of rain over the course of two days, but track officials reported Thursday morning that the Lady in Black handled it well and is ready to see NASCAR arrive this weekend.

Weekend Weather Forecast via National Weather Service

Saturday: Xfinity Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 (3:30 pm ET)

• Forecast: Mostly Sunny
• Temperature: Highs around 80 for the start of the race tampering off to the upper 70s by race end.
• Rain: 0%
• Wind: 5-9 mph Northeast winds with the potential for 15mph gusts

Sunday: Cup Cook Out Southern 500 (6:00 pm ET)

• Forecast: Clear
• Temperature: Starting the race with highs around 80 but cooling off to the low 70s by the time the checkered flag waves
• Rain: 0%
• Wind: A light breeze of around 5 mph  
• Sunset: Approximately 8 pm, but don’t worry lights weren’t too tough for Darlington to obtain. 

Not NASCAR’s First Dance with Hurricanes at Darlington

This is not the first time NASCAR or Darlington has danced with hurricanes before race weekend. In 2016 Hurricane Hermine came in, following a similar path as Idalia, and postponed all Friday activities including Practice and Qualifying. It was Martin Truex Jr who claimed the checkered flag that weekend – can he lock himself into the next round this weekend by repeating his post-hurricane dominance?