Chicago NASCAR race start delayed due to heavy rain

The start of the NASCAR Cup Race on the Chicago street circuit has been delayed due to heavy rain.

The scheduled green flag time had been moved forward to 17:05 ET/07:05 local time amid the threat of adverse weather conditions, including lightning which saw the Xfinity Series race suspended on Saturday (local time).

On Sunday, the opening of the gates was delayed “due to the threat of severe weather”, and NASCAR advised a short time ago that “We are in a holding pattern for the Grant Park 220 until conditions improve.”

It creates an uncertain scenario for Shane van Gisbergen, given the Repco Supercars Championship resumes with the NTI Townsville 500 in four days from now.

UPDATE: We are in a holding pattern for the Grant Park 220 until conditions improve.

Join us on NBC at 5 PM ET for live coverage from @NASCARChicago.

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 2, 2023

While the NASCAR Cup Series has wet tyres, the issue is specifically the quantity of the rain and the standing water which it has resulted in around the Grant Park street circuit.

If the contest does get underway, pole-sitter Denny Hamlin (#11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) will share the front row with Tyler Reddick (#45 23XL Racing Toyota).

Van Gisbergen is set to line up third on the grid in the #91 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet after a stunning first official day in NASCAR, during which he topped the sole practice session and missed out on pole position by 0.153s.

Earlier on Sunday, the resumption of the Xfinity Series race was ultimately abandoned, with Cole Custer declared the winner.

The stated plan in recent days was to complete the Cup Series and Xfinity Series race on Monday (Tuesday AEST) in the event of rain delays, although the latter was two laps shy of the usual halfway threshold for declaring a result.

Update 08:00 AEST

Drivers ordered back to their cars

Don’t think we’re gonna need the slicks today. pic.twitter.com/BNpmpXhIG3

— Trackhouse Racing (@TeamTrackhouse) July 2, 2023