NASCAR Cup qualifying in Michigan cancelled due to rain, fans asked to leave the stands
BROOKLYN, MI – Mother Nature has once again thrown a wrench into the NASCAR weekend at the Irish Hills.
Rainfall at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday, August 17, forced race officials to cancel the remainder of practice and qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series FireKeepers Casino 400.
The weather was so bad that the race track management asked fans to leave the stands because lightning was observed in the area.
NASCAR is hoping the rain will stop in time for the Xfinity Series race, scheduled for Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
The FireKeepers Casino 400 is scheduled for Sunday at 2:30 p.m., but rain is also threatening this event.
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While there was no rain in the morning, it started to get foggy around midday, forcing the start of practice to be delayed by about 30 minutes. Less than five minutes after the start of practice, the fog returned, leading to the red flag. After a few minutes, practice resumed, but was later suspended again due to rain.
The qualifying session scheduled to follow the training session was subsequently cancelled.
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While all 36 cars completed laps around the 2-mile oval, some cars had a few more laps than others. Martin Truex Jr., Chris Buescher and William Byron each had 18 laps on the track. Denny Hamlin had the fewest with five.
Ross Chastain drove the fastest lap in practice with 37.441 seconds, followed by Truex (37.464 seconds), Kyle Larson (37.465), William Byron (37.477) and Bubba Wallace (37.54).
Carson Hocevar of Portage was the fastest of the three Michigan drivers in practice, posting a time of 37.588 seconds, eighth fastest, with an average speed of 191.55 mph. Erik Jones of Byron was 12th fastest at 37.645 seconds, while Brad Keselowski of Rochester Hills (37.662 seconds) finished 14th.
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Since there is no qualifying race, NASCAR sets the field based on its qualifying metric, which takes into account points, previous race placement and the fastest lap time from the previous race.
Here is the lineup for Sunday’s race:
1. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota
2. Tyler Reddick, No. 45 Toyota
3. Christopher Bell, No. 20 Toyota
4. Kyle Larson, No. 5 Chevrolet
5. Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Toyota
6. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Chevrolet
7. Ross Chastain, No. 1 Chevrolet
8. Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Ford
9. William Byron, No. 24 Chevrolet
10. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet
11. Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Chevrolet
12. Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Chevrolet
13. Kyle Busch, No. 8 Chevrolet
14. Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford
15. Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Ford
16. Josh Berry, No. 4 Ford
17. Michael McDowell, No. 34 Ford
18. Chris Buescher, No. 17 Ford
19. Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Toyota
20. Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Ford
21. Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Ford
22. Alex Bowman, No. 48 Chevrolet
23. Austin Cindric, No. 2 Ford
24. Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Toyota
25. Noah Gragson, No. 10 Ford
26. Ryan Preece, No. 41 Ford
27. Zane Smith, No. 71 Chevrolet
28. Erik Jones, No. 43 Toyota
29. Austin Haley, No. 51 Ford
30. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. No. 47 Chevrolet
31. Corey Lajoie, No. 7 Chevrolet
32. Daniel Hemric, No. 31 Chevrolet
33. John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Toyota
34. Harrison Burton, No. 21 Ford
35. AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Chevrolet
36. Cody Ware, No. 36 Ford