Heavy rainfall threatens Brickyard 400
SPEEDWAY, Ind. (WISH) — Two big races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway will have to overcome projected heavy rains throughout the weekend.
The Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard, powered by Florida Georgia Line and the Lilly Diabetes 250 are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at IMS.
With heavy rainfalls, Friday practice for the Lilly Diabetes 250 and the 25th running of the Brickyard 400 was canceled, leaving questions heading into this weekend’s events.
The final practice for the Brickyard 400 is supposed to begin at 1:30 p.m. Saturday with qualifying slated to start at 6 p.m. The Lilly Diabetes 250 qualifying is scheduled for 11:45 a.m. with the race scheduled to start at 3:19 p.m. Saturday.
“The on-track stuff, when you get less laps, you kind of rely on old notes, races from previous years, and how the track was. Looks like we won’t get a ton of practice time between the next two days, but we’ll just have to go back and see how we were last year,” said NASCAR driver Ryan Blaney, who drives for Team Penske.
Austin Dillion, another driver gearing up for the weekend added: “It’s just hard, this place isn’t so easy to dry. I wish it was. It’s a long track and it takes awhile. The guys know what they’re doing out there; they can do a good job of getting it dry quick enough. We’ll get to our second stage hopefully or get the full race in and put on a good show.”
This weekend will be the finale to the regular NASCAR season. Two playoff spots will be on the line, and drivers will have to wonder how they are going to maneuver their vehicles in this weekend’s weather.
The Brickyard 400 will take place Sunday at 2:09 p.m., weather permitting.