The elements and a balky track conspired to force postponement of Sunday’s scheduled Duck Commander 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
The race was postponed until noon ET Monday, when three-time series champion Tony Stewart will lead the field to the green flag in the seventh Sprint Cup race of the season.
Rain drenched the 1.5-mile speedway Sunday morning, and even though the precipitation abated in the afternoon, high humidity, low temperatures and continued seepage through the track’s asphalt surface (otherwise known as “weepers”) frustrated track-drying efforts, even though NASCAR and TMS deployed a fleet of Air Titan units and jet dryers.
NASCAR announced the postponement at approximately 7 p.m. ET, after another cloudburst wiped out the progress that had been made in efforts to dry the track.
TV coverage for Monday’s rescheduled event will be broadcast on FOX.
Though rain has threatened several NASCAR venues this year, the Texas race will be the first not to be run on the scheduled date. This is the third time a Texas race has been postponed until a Monday.
There have been six different winners in the first six races of the season. Stewart-Haas Racing, which fields Chevrolets for Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch and Danica Patrick, is the only organization with more than one victory this season (Harvick at Phoenix and Busch at Martinsville).
Las Vegas winner and 2012 series champion Brad Keselowski will start beside Stewart on the front row when the racing starts on Monday.
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