Shortened race at Texas? Problematic, but not first or worst for Cup Chase

Ray Slover

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Shortened race at Texas? Problematic, but not first or worst for Cup Chase image

NASCAR has had one devil of a time with rain in 2016, and Sunday's race at Texas added a chapter to the soggy story. How long would racing last?

At worst, Sunday's AAA Texas 500 was a race to halfway. More rain was possible after about two hours of racing, so getting half a race in might be all weather would allow. Racing at full speed began about 8:07 p.m. ET — six hours behind schedule.

MORE: Starting lineup | Sunday's long wait

There was a competition caution after Lap 28, and cars were on the track for about 50 minutes, turning dozens of laps on the 1.5-mile track, before the race went green.

On a track that normally figured to be very fast, Sprint Cup cars began a 500-mile race at a crawl for five laps before cutting them loose.

Damp spots and weepers, those places where water seeped through track and cursed dryers' best efforts, persisted.

Even drying machines needed a pit stop to refuel during their long slog around the track. And cars running laps in warmups and under caution cut into fuel schemes.

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By the way, rain and drying efforts took all the rubber off the track. Wet spots would be stock car racing's equivalent of a waterslide.

Already dealing with a change of strategy from a day race to a night race, and with cars set up for daytime racing, Sunday would be a matter of making adjustments on the fly. And for drivers who qualified deep in the starting lineup, flying to the front was critical.

Raindrops fell just minutes before the scheduled start of the Chase for the Sprint Cup race. It took more than five hours to get the track ready for competition. Blame an old surface and damp air that defied the best available drying machines.

Sunday was not the first Chase race affected by rain. Nor was it the biggest problem in the championship series. That came in 2015, when rain in a most unusual place cut short the last race before the championship competition.

MORE: Jimmie Johnson hungers for seventh Cup title

Rain at Phoenix, in the Arizona desert of all places, forced NASCAR to red-flag the race that set the Chase's final four. It was a hugely frustrating race, delayed nearly seven hours before a start about 9:30 p.m. ET. Two hours later, it was over.

Despite finishing third in the abbreviated race, Joey Logano was among four drivers eliminated from the Chase. Also out: Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards.

All but Keselowski are trying to make the 2016 Chase.

Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. advanced to Homestead-Miami on points. Jeff Gordon won at Martinsville to earn his final four place.

This year, Jimmie Johnson won at Martinsville.

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With rain on weather radar and possible later in the evening, another abbreviated Chase race was possible.

Rain in the Chase is a rarity, but it also happened in 2007. That year, the Kansas race was called after 210 laps. It created one whale of a controversy, because a caution froze the field and made Greg Biffle the winner — even though Clint Bowyer crossed the finish line first.

Ray Slover