NASCAR Sprint Cup Series - Full Race - Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte
Tropical storm Bonnie will make landfall Sunday morning around Charleston SC. This storm will spread bands of across North Carolina and Charlotte Motor Speedway. With all this moisture, can NASCAR race 600 mile Sunday night?
THIS IS THE OLD UPDATE FROM SUNDAY MORNING - LATEST UPDATE CAN BEFOUND HERE
Tropical Storm Bonnie will make landfall along the South Carolina coast sometime Sunday morning somewhere around Charleston SC. This system will rotate rain bands across the Charlotte area during the day Sunday. The rain will be off and on and will continue into the afternoon and evening. The most challenging part of this forecast is timing these bands of rain. Rain and storms will move in and out with breaks. The question now is will these breaks be long enough to go racing 600 miles Sunday night?
CAN WE RACE SUNDAY?I think it is possible to go racing but it doesn"t look as optimistic as it did Friday and Saturday. Odds of racing Sunday night is around 60 percent. It will come down to whether or not bands work across Charlotte Motor Speedway during the scheduled race time or not.
IF THEY RACE - CAN THEY GO THE DISTANCE?This will be the biggest challenge for NASCAR Sunday night. If there is a big enough break between rain bands then yes, they could go racing and go the distance but a lot of things have to come together. Odds of getting a full race is around 40 percent, odds of halfway could be around 50 percent.
WHY BOTHER RACING - IT"S A WASHOUT?I am seeing a lot of this on Twitter. A lot of people with weather apps or looking online ready to call the race a wash. That"s not a given, and with this forecast nothing is. The odds of a wash are around 50 percent. I don"t like it that high and I know to some of you 50 percent looks like a cop out. But given the data, it"s the best assessment I can give. This will be one of those races where we will have to watch the radar and nothing is given.
WHAT IS MONDAY"S FORECAST?Monday does look a little drier but showers and storms are still possible. Storms will be more of the scattered to isolated nature as Bonnie slowly continues to move to the NNE along the North Carolina coast.
I continue to work with meteorologist Aaron Studwell (@RaceWeather on Twitter) on this forecast. This is not an easy forecast and we may be making adjustments all the way up to the start of the Coca-Cola 600. Please follow me on Twitter @NASCAR_WXMAN and like me on Facebook for the latest weather updates through the weekend.
All times ET.
SUNDAY5 p.m. -- Coca-Cola 600 Pre-raceForecast: Mostly cloudy, breezy, possible shower or stormWinds: North 10-15 mph Temperature:74
6 p.m. -- Coca-Cola 600 RaceForecast: Mostly cloudy, breezy, possible shower or stormWinds: North 10-15 mph Temperature: 73
7 p.m. -- Coca-Cola 600 RaceForecast: Mostly cloudy, breezy, possible shower or stormWinds: North 10-15 mph Temperature:73
8 p.m. -- Coca-Cola 600 RaceForecast: Mostly cloudy, breezy, possible shower or stormWinds: North 10-15 mph Temperature:71
9 p.m. -- Coca-Cola 600 RaceForecast: Mostly cloudy, breezy, possible shower or stormWinds: North 10-15 mph Temperature: 68
10 p.m. -- Coca-Cola 600 RaceForecast: Mostly cloudy, breezy, possible shower or stormWinds: North 10-15 mph Temperature:68
11 p.m. -- Coca-Cola 600 RaceForecast: Mostly cloudy, breezy, possible shower or stormWinds: North 10-15 mph Temperature:66
12 a.m. -- Coca-Cola 600 RaceForecast: Mostly cloudy, breezy, possible shower or stormWinds: North 10-15 mph Temperature:64
MONDAY12 p.m. -- Possible rain delay of Coca-Cola 600Forecast: Mostly cloudy, chance of a showerWinds: NNE 5-10 mph Temperature:77
Source: http://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2016/5/29/11807486/coca-cola-600-race-day-weather-forecast-will-bonnie-rain-on-nascars
