Rain Spoils Both Cup and Xfinity; Both Races Postponed ‘Til Monday

What’s Happening?

“Rain, rain, go away,” many NASCAR fans are singing as it just broke that tonight’s scheduled Coca-Cola 600 has been postponed until Monday, Memorial Day. The announcement comes just after the race’s scheduled start time at 6:35 PM/ET despite many hopes that the rain would break and the race would fire off as scheduled, albeit at a later start time. The 2023 Alsco 300 and Coca-Cola 600 will take place at 11 AM/EST and 3 PM/EST respectively on FS1 and FOX.

• The announcement of the Coke 600’s postponement is not a welcome one as NASCAR’s battle with Mother Nature has been a hot topic all weekend. While the ARCA and Craftsman Truck Series races fired off without a hitch, the rains moved in early Saturday morning and has largely stayed with only a brief break here and there thus postponing the scheduled Alsco 300 on Saturday afternoon, canceling Cup Series Qualifying which was to be held Saturday night under the lights, and now postponing the Coke 600 to a 3 PM/ET start time on Monday afternoon.
• With the rain setting in and being persistent, the track for the start of the Xfinity race tomorrow will be a green one. It will be interesting to see what kind of curveball that throws at the teams as they adjust their cars to the sunbaked asphalt of the Charlotte Motor Speedway. In addition to that, the Cup Series drivers have had no time on track this weekend. It will be equally interesting to see how this affects the handling of the NextGen car as well as 7-time champion, Jimmie Johnson, who hasn’t raced on an intermediate track in NASCAR since the fall of 2020.
• While none of this is are the ideal circumstances for NASCAR fans, this postponement stings a little less. With it being Memorial Day on Monday, many fans were already scheduled to be off from work due to the government holiday. It’ll be interesting to see what the rating numbers will be once they’re released on Tuesday.

Looking ahead at the forecast in Charlotte for tomorrow, it looks as if the showers will move out sometime in the late morning, which means we could also be suffering through a rain delay for the Xfinity race tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed that is not the case. On the bright side, it does appear to be clear by midday so surely we’ll see some form of on-track action at CMS tomorrow afternoon into the evening.

The Main Characters

A race postponement to Monday is never a good thing for the guys and gals who work for these race teams. It puts everything behind schedule when they already live in a constant pinch. Here, some of the crew hides from the raging showers under what looks like a pretty unsteady tent.

Alex Bowman’s return to NASCAR, a major storyline heading into this weekend, will have to wait one more day. Here, in a tweet reported by NASCAR on FOX’s Josh Sims, he talks about his injury and his road to recovery.

Around The Garage

The boys in NASCAR have to keep themselves entertained somehow. Why stop with the WWE’s Night of Champions! Let’s throwdown right here in the No. 14 hauler!

Here, as reported by NASCAR on FOX’s Bob Pockrass, Austin Cindric who wowed fans yesterday with his interviewing skills, claimed that he wasn’t the “driver’s only” pit reporter who voted to TP Kevin Harvick’s motorhome.

From The Officials

Saturday’s Xfinity Series race was the first casualty in this ongoing war between NASCAR and Mother Nature. Here is the official announcement. The race will be held Monday at 11 on FS1.

And here is the official announcement stating that the 2023 Coca-Cola 600 will be held at 3 PM/EST on Memorial Day, exclusively on FOX.

In The Stands

yup left, knowing that there would be no racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend and headed for Indianapolis for the Indy 500. It was a good race. I hope he enjoyed it.

AJWaggle will be watching these two races from the couch in the comfort of her own home. Can’t say I blame her.

Robert Alleruzzo predicts that there will be a huge ratings falloff. Unfortunately, it’s probably a pretty safe bet.

Tricia says that now that the announcement has been made, it’ll be blue, cheery skies in Charlotte. I don’t know about that. But she is right about one thing: there is a chance of rain tomorrow. It should clear up by mid-afternoon, though.

All Dan Zaborski wants to do is go fast!

This is me, is that you? says that they never thought they’d see Tony Stewart in a corporate suit and tie.

Ah! TheBucNasty tweeted a big scary glass of water!

Mark Pyzunski demands for the rain to stop and the sun to shine through the clouds.

On Your Screen

Daily Downforce partner and host of Out of the Groove on YouTube switched it over to the Houston Astros game. They are, in fact, back.

Black Flags Matter host, Darian Gilliam, who was covering the Indy 500 today (hope it was a good time, man!) points out in this tweet that some of those double dippers, like Kyle Busch, are going to run a total of 900 miles tomorrow afternoon. Geeze!

From The Pressbox

FOX Sport’s Bob Pockrass was hopeful all day, keeping fans up to date with the weather radar. Unfortunately, the rain reigned over Charlotte today with an iron fist.

Daily Downforce readers, we appriciate you sticking with us through this whole mess. We’ll be back tomorrow, bright eyed and bushy tailed, for 900 miles of NASCAR racing at Charlotte! Stay tuned to our Twitter and Instagram pages for constant updates and in-race chatter.