Food City 500 at Bristol postponed to Monday afternoon

The spring race at Bristol doesn’t historically have issues with rain, but the 2017 edition had to be moved to Monday.

The Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway is generally one of the early season NASCAR races worth waiting for, but now fans will have to wait another day.

Rain has been an issue all weekend at Bristol, pausing just long enough on Saturday that the NASCAR XFINITY Series race was held despite gray skies. That wasn’t the case on Sunday, as steady rain and the promise of more on the way forced NASCAR officials to postpone the Food City 500.

The race is now scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. on April 23, and it appears FOX will still televise it instead of kicking it to Fox Sports 1. It’s the first race of the 2017 season to be bumped until a weekday, something that happened twice last year (both at Pocono).

The spring Bristol race has rarely been moved due to rain, though it was delayed multiple times in 2015 before it finally was finished at night. it’s worth noting that for much of its recent history, the Food City 500 was run in March, so the extra month or so might make a difference when it comes to the impact of weather.

The Tuesday weather forecast for the Bristol area is much more promising, with only the threat of a stray shower or thunderstorm. When the race does get underway, Cup Series points leader Kyle Larson will pace the field as Friday’s qualifying session was also rained out.

Next: Food City 500 grid, starting lineup

Drivers worried about the lack of multiple racing grooves at Bristol aren’t likely to be crazy about the rain washing away any rubber laid down by the XFINITY Series competitors. It will also be interesting to see if NASCAR orders a competition caution early in the race due to the overall lack of practice time the teams have had over the last few days.