A heavy morning shower, coupled with groundwater seepage in Pocono Raceway’s asphalt surface, forced NASCAR officials to postpone the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 until Monday at 12:15 p.m.
The rain tapered off more than an hour before the scheduled start time of 2:20 p.m., but then two other issues presented themselves. Thick fog made it difficult to see the front grandstand from the infield, making it almost impossible for spotters to see all three corners of Pocono’s 2.5-mile racing surface. However, a combination of a light breeze and a rise in the temperature allowed the clouds to lift.
But the second issue turned out to be the biggest problem. Track crews were unable to solve the issue of a series of “weepers” in the turns, areas where the groundwater continually seeps through cracks in the surface of the asphalt. Part of the problem stemmed from the amount of rain that peppered the area Friday, resulting in the cancellation of Friday’s qualifying. In addition, light showers continued to pop up in the area during the afternoon, hampering some of the track-drying efforts. NASCAR
“Our biggest challenge today was time,” said Kerry Tharp, NASCAR’s manager of public relations. “This is almost a four-hour race to complete. The average time here is three hours and 45 minutes. And it gets dark at about 8:15. So you do the math. We really needed to start this race around 4:30 to have the time needed to get the full race in before darkness.”
Running fewer than 200 laps was not an option.
“Our philosophy is when we start a race, we’re going to run the entire event,” Tharp said. “That’s only fair for the fans and competitors.” Allentown Morning Call
In June, Stewart also had to relinquish his pole position and start from the back of the field for the Pocono 500 after wrecking in final practice. Qualifying was cancelled for that event due to inclement weather. Stewart gambled on fuel late in the race en route to his first victory as driver and owner.
The weather forecast for tomorrow’s race looks much better with partly cloudy skies and only a 10 percent chance of rain. MiamiHerald.com
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