Bob Pockrass reveals NASCAR’s plan of action amid Hurricane Debby approaching North Carolina

Veteran FOX Sports journalist Bob Pockrass has revealed how NASCAR is planning its weekend in Richmond amid the commotion that has been caused by the tropical hurricane Debby. Debby hit Florida on Monday, killing at least four people and endangering the lives of hundreds.

National Hurricane Center has predicted flash flooding induced by over 76 centimeters of rain in some places. There have been reports of winds slamming the east coast of the US at 80 mph with the chances of the same cranking up to 100 mph at times. Later this week, the storm is expected to haunt the coasts of Virginia where Richmond Raceway is situated.

As the news of the hurricane stormed over the internet, a fan on X wondered how it would affect the Cook Out 400 scheduled to be held at Richmond Raceway on August 11. Responding to the same, Pockrass said,

"NASCAR will monitor the weather and conditions as they have a few days before making any decisions. The garage isn't scheduled to open until Saturday. (Cup haulers scheduled to enter Friday late afternoon; truck haulers Saturday morning)."

Thankfully, the 400-lap event doesn't start before Sunday, 6 PM ET. Therefore, one could hope that the storm subsides before that and the drivers can resort to the track for the 23rd race of the season.

However, this is not the first time for a storm to potentially disrupt a NASCAR weekend. 16 years ago, a similar incident forced NASCAR to postpone a pair of races due to another such tropical storm.

When NASCAR had to reschedule a Sprint Cup and a Nationwide Series race

In 2008, another storm named Hanna hit the Richmond area, projecting winds as fast as 40 to 70 miles per hour. As a result, NASCAR had to push Friday night's Nationwide Series race to 7 PM on Sunday. Additionally, the NASCAR Sprint Cup race was rescheduled for 1 PM on the same day.

According to a report by ESPN, the winds induced by the storm endangered the lives of hundreds of fans who had put up camps in the vicinity. NASCAR spokesman, the late Jim Hunter said,

"The emergency officials in the state and locally are telling us there are going to be high winds tonight and in the morning that could knock down power lines, knock down trees or knock limbs in the road. We just felt this was the right thing to do.''

The then-Richmond International Raceway president, Doug Fritz appreciated NASCAR making the prompt decision. Reflecting on the same, he said,

"Sometimes there's hope and sometimes there's not. But we're still looking for two days of great racing all crammed into one now."

However, Jeff Gordon, who was a Cup Series regular at the time, wasn't happy about Friday's qualifying race getting canceled. Despite having the fastest car in practice, the field was set based on the owner's points. Unfortunately, Gordon was relegated to start P10.

Looking at the current circumstances, NASCAR fans can only hope that the upcoming race at Richmond Raceway doesn't get rescheduled.