Rain forces delay of Bristol night race to Sunday

Well, they tried. NASCAR took a good run at running its famous Bristol night race, but apparently Mother Nature preferred to watch the Olympics or something, because cars clocked barely 10 percent of the regulation 500 laps on the board before rains washed out the evening.

The race will now continue starting at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday. The race will air on CNBC.

Rains delayed the start of the race by 50 minutes. Rains called a 90-minute halt to the racing just 39 laps in. And rains pelted the track moments before a 10-lap caution run was about to go green. With the final rain delay slated to last well into the small hours of the morning, plus track drying time, officials pulled the plug on the night’s racing shortly before 11:30 p.m. Eastern.

Kyle Busch was leading the race at the time of the rain delay, followed by Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney. Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top 5.

____
Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION, on sale now at Amazon or wherever books are sold. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.