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.
