NASCAR Cup race at Michigan suspended until Monday after rain wouldn't go away
BROOKLYN, Mich. (AP) — NASCAR suspended the FireKeepers 400 until Monday, running out of time Sunday to run a race that was delayed and interrupted by rain.
On Lap 51 of the 200-lap Cup race, cars went to pit road to wait and see if the rain would go away in time to get at least half of the race completed to make it official and avoid having it spill over into an extra day for the second straight year at Michigan.
The race was set to resume at 11 a.m. EDT.
During driver introductions under dark clouds, Austin Dillon drew some boos and responded by kissing his right palm and waving to the crowd a week after he wrecked Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin en route to a win at Richmond Raceway.
Hamlin started on the pole after rain washed out qualifying Saturday and precipitation delayed the start of the race, sending cars to pit row after a few pace laps.
Jet dryers did laps to remove at least some of the moisture to make racing potentially possible, but the weather didn’t cooperate.
Two-plus hours later, drivers got back into their cars and Kyle Larson took the lead on the opening lap and was kept it by going 200-plus mph on straightaways and about 180 mph in the turns.
When Larson and Hamlin raced side by side on Lap 36, Bubba Wallace went low and passed them both.
Michael Jordan, who co-owns 23XI Racing team with Hamlin, was seen smiling after Wallace made the move.
A few laps later, Hamlin tried to make up ground behind Wallace only to lose control of the car to bring out the yellow.
Wallace chose to take a pit stop and gave up a chance to win 10 points for the first stage — aiming for a strategy with fuel and tires that might help him win — and Ryan Blaney took advantage to finish first after 45 laps.
There are 12 drivers with a spot secured in the playoffs, leaving four spots open with three races remaining at Michigan, Daytona and Darlington.
Drivers and teams will have a quicker turnaround following the FireKeepers 400 to qualifying on Friday for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Saturday night in Daytona Beach, Florida.