A rain delay at any time and for any length Sunday at Auto Club Speedway would mark NASCAR's third weekend of bad weather luck in three tries this season. So the spike in rain chances for the Fontana, Calif., area Sunday is worth watching as the 3:46 p.m. ET green flag for the Auto Club 400 approaches.
The NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500, of course, was pushed to Monday after the track was lost to a series of late afternoon and early evening rain showers Sunday. And while last week's Cup race ran on Sunday as scheduled, Saturday's Xfinity race at Las Vegas, of all places, was rained out and postponed to Sunday after the Cup race.
Needless to say, NASCAR and all race teams are hopeful for a full weekend of racing on schedule, but the forecast for Sunday at Auto Club Speedway is gloomy.
MORE: Full NASCAR starting lineup at Fontana
NASCAR race weather forecast for Auto Club 400
According to weather.com, there's a 60 percent chance of precipitation Sunday in Fontana. The weather system is expected to arrive in Southern California in the afternoon with scattered showers around race time.
The National Weather Service has a similar forecast for Auto Club Speedway.
A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 57. South wind 5 to 10 mph becoming southwest 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Here is the current weather radar for Fontana, Calif.
The advice from NASCAR race weather information provider Aaron Studwell to those planning to attend Sunday's race at Auto Club Speedway: "Bring a poncho."
Natl Weather Service says temps in mid-50s with a 45% chance of rain throughout the day for Fontana. #nascar @NASCARONFOX https://t.co/7t3Om4Zv59
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 1, 2020
Just coordinated w/ @RaceWeather for SUN @ACSupdates - Odds of Racing 60-70% with Sct'd Rain - Always challenging cause you don't know when a shower will hit. Anticipating delays. Will be monitoring Sunday... #NASCAR
— Brian Neudorff (@NASCAR_WXMAN) February 29, 2020
The scheduled start time for the Auto Club 400 is 3:30 p.m. ET, and the start time for the pre-race show on Fox is 2:30 p.m. ET. The green flag time is scheduled for 3:46 p.m. ET.
Auto Club Speedway does have lights. They were installed in 2004.
The 3:30 p.m. ET start time for Sunday's Auto Club 400 is the second of three consecutive such start times as NASCAR's Cup Series completes its early-season West Coast swing. Last week's race at Las Veags also started at 3:30 p.m. ET, as will the March 8 race at Phoenix Raceway.