After persistent morning rain soaked the racing surface at Talladega Superspeedway, the start of Sunday afternoon’s Aaron’s 499 Sprint Cup race at the track is almost certain to be delayed.
Rain stopped falling in the track area around 11 a.m. (ET), and track-drying procedures began. The 2.66-mile racing surface is not likely to be ready for racing at the originally scheduled starting time of 1:20 p.m. (ET).
The eastern Alabama afternoon forecast calls for the continued possibility of showers as the day progresses, but the likelihood of rain is expected to diminish as the day goes on.
Officials expect the start of the race to be delayed by 30 to 90 minutes.
The track, NASCAR’s biggest, does not have lights.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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