RICHMOND, Va. — Report by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images photo —
Mother Nature one, NASCAR zero.
Persistent rain forced NASCAR and Richmond International Raceway officials to postpone Saturday’s Toyota Owners 400, round nine of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, to Sunday afternoon.
The event will air on FOX at 1 p.m. Eastern time, and is the first rainout for NASCAR’s top series since last July’s event at Daytona International Speedway.
The weather moved into the Richmond area around noon Eastern time and picked up steam just before the scheduled start of the drivers’ meeting at 5 p.m.
Saturday night’s decision was made by combining the available weather forecasts with discussion from government and law enforcement officials, according to NASCAR, and leaves drivers frustrated, guessing and out of their rhythms heading into a now-daytime event.
“It is tough a lot of times because you have your whole routine in the morning you go through with appearances and drivers meeting and do all your stuff and then you sit and wait,” pole-sitter Joey Logano said. “At that point you start to relax again. It just changes a little bit. It is like any other athlete. You get in your mode and do the same thing every week before the race or before a game and when it rains it kind of throws you off a little bit.
“Usually by the time you get back in the car, they give you enough warning the race is about to start and you get your head back straight again and off you go. Usually it isn’t that big of an effect for what we do.”
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series director Richard Buck also said there will be a competition caution at lap 50 tomorrow afternoon. Per NASCAR rules, if the race reaches lap 201 of its scheduled 400 lap distance, it would be official if rain returned at any point — though the forecast for Sunday afternoon only shows a forecasted 10% chance of rain at race time.
Joey Logano is the defending winner of the event and will start from the pole alongside Virginia native Denny Hamlin.
