Richmond, VA (SportsNetwork.com) - Persistent rain at Richmond International Raceway forced NASCAR officials to postpone Saturday night's Toyota Owners 400.
The scheduled 400-lap Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond has been rescheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. ET. It will be televised on Fox.
It began raining at this 0.75-mile oval around noon time and then intensified throughout the afternoon and evening hours. Officials called off the race about an hour before the scheduled start time of 7:10 p.m. More rain and temperatures down in the low 40s were in the forecast here at nighttime.
Joey Logano will lead the 43-car field to the green flag. Logano claimed his series-leading third pole of the season on Friday when he qualified at 127.071 mph. Denny Hamlin, who hails from nearby Chesterfield, Virginia, will start second.
The last Sprint Cup race to be delayed one day due to inclement weather occurred last July in the 400-mile event at Daytona International Speedway.
Last Sunday, the Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway featured several rain delays. It concluded more than nine hours after its scheduled start time. Matt Kenseth went to victory lane there, ending his 51-race winless drought in the series.
According to the National Weather Service, the forecast for the Richmond area calls for an 80 percent chance of rain during the morning, but conditions are expected to improve significantly by early afternoon.
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