It has been a weekend where Mother Nature has been very angry. The season-opening game at the “Big House” for Michigan was called with 1:27 left in the third quarter due to heavy rain. Notre Dame and South Florida endured nearly three hours of delays due to lightning, and Marshall vs. West Virginia had to wait out over three hours of rain delays at their game in Morgantown.
NASCAR was hoping to escape the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee that were coming up the east coast. NASCAR officials moved the start time up 20 minutes in a hope to escape it and at least make it to halfway.
Rain hit the track at 7:30 just after opening ceremonies, but passed just in time for track driers to hit the track and get about half the racing surface done. However, a huge downpour shortly after 9 p.m. erased all those efforts, and it was determined that it would take three hours to dry the track, as the surface was “lost,” meaning the rain on the track became too heavy to attempt to dry.
At 9:45, NASCAR President Mike Helton made it official and the Advocare 500 has been postponed. Normally the race would be run on Monday, however Tropical Storm Lee is set to pour rain all over the Atlanta area, with some spots expecting upwards of four or five inches of rain.
It was because of that, and the concern for safety, that NASCAR officials decided to move the race back an extra day.
The Advocare 500 will be run at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, the second Tuesday race for NASCAR in the last five years (Michigan, 2007). The race will still be broadcast on ESPN.