TALLADEGA, Ala. — NASCAR’s playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway was washed out and rescheduled for Monday as a result of persistent rain backed the collection into too tight of a window to run as scheduled.

The race was initially delayed nearly two hours and NASCAR made one try Sunday at beginning the 500-miler. Nevertheless it started to rain once more because the vehicles circled the two.66-mile superspeedway behind the tempo automobile.

Talladega doesn’t have lights — the Xfinity Sequence race on Saturday ended six laps early due to impending darkness — and the prolonged delay meant NASCAR would flirt with sundown if it even began the race. Talladega’s 500 miles common a 3 hour, 41 minute runtime and NASCAR doesn’t like to begin a race except it expects to run to completion.

Compounding the scheduling problem was that the Cup Sequence race was the lead-in to NBC’s airing Sunday night time of Tom Brady’s return to New England, an NFL recreation that may have taken precedence over the race. The rescheduled begin is 1 p.m. Monday on NBC Sports activities Community.

Early climate experiences referred to as for rain in Alabama on Monday, as properly. Identical for Tuesday and a part of Wednesday.

Talladega marks the center race of the second spherical of NASCAR’s playoffs, with the hybrid highway course/oval at Charlotte Motor Speedway scheduled as subsequent week’s elimination race. The sphere of 12 playoff drivers will probably be whittled to eight at The Roval, and solely Talladega pole sitter Denny Hamlin already has earned a berth into the third spherical.

Drivers have been on edge headed into Talladega due to the unpredictability of the two.66-mile superspeedway and the dangers of pack racing. Each the Truck Sequence race and Xfinity Sequence race doubleheader on Saturday had been crash-marred and gained by non-playoff drivers.

The Cup drivers don’t desire the identical aggressive racing as a result of one flawed transfer can set off a championship-ruining wreck.

“I am going right into a superspeedway race under the cutoff line, so it is undoubtedly a traumatic weekend,” Alex Bowman, ranked eleventh out of 12 drivers, mentioned Sunday. “We will race to win, proper? That is our recreation plan.”

NASCAR and NBC had been in early discussions on methods to mitigate crowd ambiance after spectators at Talladega on Saturday chanted an expletive directed at President Joe Biden that was picked up on air throughout winner Brandon Brown’s interview.

The race winner sometimes stops on the frontstretch to gather the checkered flag after which do a reside interview. The chants Saturday at Talladega, the place a convoy of vehicles and bikes waved Accomplice flags as they paraded previous the primary entrance on Speedway Boulevard, may very well be heard over Brown’s interview.

Concepts being mentioned had been to maneuver the interview away from the grandstand fence in an effort to decrease the ambient noise.