NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY (Nashville, Tenn.) — Persistent and heavy rain showers forced INDYCAR to postpone its race in Nashville from Sunday to Monday afternoon.
The 300-lap race, scheduled to begin shortly after Sunday’s World Cup Final on FOX, was put into a lightning delay and then rains came around 7 p.m. ET. The track was nearly dry around 8:30 p.m. when heavy rains returned and series officials opted to postpone the race to Monday at 3 p.m. ET on FOX.
The race is expected to be brutal for the drivers and teams as FOX Weather predicts the temperature to be 90 degrees with it feeling like 102 degrees. With that forecast, INDYCAR officials announced late Sunday night that the race distance would be reduced to 225 laps.
Kyle Kirkwood is on the pole for the race, which at 399.5 miles, is reguarily the second-longest on the INDYCAR calendar, behind only the Indianapolis 500.
“It’s going to be hot, it’s going to be physical — not only for me as a driver, but everyone on pit lane for two-plus hours,” Kirkwood said Saturday after winning the pole about the race in general.
Races postponed in INDYCAR are relatively rare because they have rain tires for the races on road and street courses that typically allow them to run unless there is a deluge. The last INDYCAR race to be postponed because of rain was the 2018 race at Barber (Ala.) Motorsports Park.
Running the race Monday at Nashville won’t be too much of a burden on the teams. They have the next two weekends off — and then they finish the year with six races over five weekends.
Maybe the only driver happy Sunday was Alex Palou, not because he wanted to race Monday but because the driver who grew up near Barcelona got to watch Spain win the World Cup.
“Just incredible just to be able to win the World Cup,” Palou said on the FOX telecast during the rain delay.
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