Most of the Robert Yates Racing team will spend Sunday night in Atlanta. Credit: Autostock

Teams alter travel plans after race postponed

Most teams flying to Charlotte for night, while others find hotels

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Even after sitting in the rain for eight hours at Atlanta Motor Speedway, many teams still elected to fly the hour back to Charlotte for the night.

Smaller teams that do not own their own planes had to call and book hotels.

	Carl Edwards' attempt to be the first three-peat winner was delayed. Credit: Autostock
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The Golden Corral 500 was delayed by rain Sunday at AMS, and NASCAR will try to run the race at 11 a.m. ET Monday. The garage opens at 8 a.m. ET.

The postponement doesn't pose a huge problem for most teams. Teams fly back using Tara Field, located behind Turn 1, and those that didn't go home simply rebook their hotel rooms for another night.

Virtually all of the multi-car teams fly their over-the-wall crews in on Sunday mornings unless the race is held on the West Coast. In those instances, over-the-wall crews arrive at the tracks on Saturdays.

Because over-the-wall crews on multi-car teams rarely require hotel rooms for races on the East Coast, teams will shuttle them back to Charlotte and then back to Atlanta on Monday morning.

Robert Yates Racing uses Racing Logistics to shuttle its over-the-wall crew, but it elected to keep them in Atlanta on Sunday night.

In contrast, Bill Davis Racing used its team plane to fly its three race-day crews back to Greensboro, N.C, while the mechanics will stay in Atlanta. It is actually cheaper for BDR to fly some of its crew back home, because it costs around $200 per person to house them for the night at hotels near the track.

Some team owners, knowing that the race would most likely be postponed, left the track early and were back at home in Charlotte before mid-afternoon.