Are NASCAR races still rescheduled due to rain? Joe Gibbs Racing weighs in

On several occasions, NASCAR has faced severe weather conditions that have delayed races for minutes, hours, and even days. However, the question remains on the next plan of action by the officials under such a chain of events.

Races such as the season's inaugural race, the Daytona 500, were delayed by a day. Subsequently, the Chicago streets were drenched with rain showers for the second time since its inception. Moreover, the Memorial Day weekend of the Coca-Cola 600 and Indy 500 races was affected by heavy rains. As a result, Kyle Larson couldn't start the NASCAR Cup race as it got red-flagged.

In a recent social media post by Joe Gibbs Racing, the narrator touched upon the scenarios of rain affecting stock-car racing and the measures NASCAR takes to move ahead with the event. While a few races were rescheduled for a later start, some were donned with wet weather tires.

Replying to a fan's query on Instagram, the JGR insider shed light on what happens to races if they get rescheduled because of rain. He said:

"When your tires look like this, water on the track can cause chaos. In previous years, any amount of rain would postpone a race. But now, we have a wet weather tire. As of now, it's used at road courses and smaller tracks. And it continues to be tested at some of the bigger tracks. While it can't handle torrential rain, it's been effective at getting cars back on track in damp conditions."

"If it rains at all at some of the bigger tracks or too much at some of the smaller tracks, races may have to be delayed sometimes minutes, sometimes hours, and sometimes even days," he added.

The 2024 USA Today 301 race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway introduced the official use of wet tires on a damp track. While the rain delayed the Loudon race for more than two hours, the new tire program re-fired the engines back on track and completely the remaining laps.

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"We wanted to get our races started on time,": NASCAR VP reflects on the success of wet tires after the Loudon race

NASCAR makes an effort to make the track race-ready with innovative technology like the Air Titan, which blows compressed air onto the track which goes to the apron. However, the damped tracks are still a no-go for the normal slick tires.

In a post-race interaction of the New Hampshire Motor Speedway race, NASCAR Senior VP Elton Sawyer reflected on how Goodyear's product helped speed up the rain-delayed restart. He said:

"Oh, we would have (had to call the race if we didn’t have wet-weather tires). We’d have been done with 82 laps ago, It gave us an opportunity to get back green. You know, we were up against it with daylight as well, but kudos to our teams, our drivers, our owners, and especially Mr. (Jim) France for his vision."

Furthermore, the NASCAR official added:

“I think the way we started this whole wet-weather-tire-process was basically we wanted to get our races started on time...We ran 301-plus laps today. Went into the overtime. Our fans that bought a ticket, they got to see some great, exciting racing. And there’s still some things that we’re learning through this process and in all honesty."

Moreover, NASCAR introduced new wet weather rules that came into play in the Richmond race back in August. While several races were jeopardized in the past due to incremental weather and damp tracks, drivers have since started comfortably with wet tires before switching back to the normal slick tires.