Rain forces postponement of Cup race at Michigan

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Heavy, persistent rain at Michigan International Speedway washed out Sunday's scheduled running of the 3M Performance 400, and forced NASCAR to reschedule the event for noon ET Monday.

Rain began falling on the area Saturday night, and continued through Sunday. A brief respite early Sunday afternoon led NASCAR to send jet dryers onto the 2-mile oval, and prompted teams to strike the tents used to keep garage and pit areas dry. But it didn't last, with downpours resuming from a weather system that stretched from the Midwest into the plains states.

Revised info

All tickets for Sunday's event will be honored on Monday. Race fans that attended Sunday activities should bring back their tickets for re-entry Monday.

Campers will be allowed to stay in all MIS-owned and operated campgrounds until noon Tuesday. Fans that are not camping, but wish to stay in the area for the night are welcomed to stay in their parked cars.

A modified traffic plan will be in place for Monday's event. The track asks all local citizens that use U.S. Hwy 12, M-50 or Vicary Road for their morning commute to prepare for an increased amount of traffic, and find alternate routes if possible.

Parking lots open at 6 a.m. local time and grandstand gates open at 8.

Michigan became the fourth rain-delayed event of the Nextel Cup season, joining Dover, Richmond and Darlington. The first event this season at Pocono was shortened by rain.

Monday's forecast for the area doesn't look any brighter. (CNN Weather) There's an 80 percent of more rain in the Brooklyn area, at least raising the possibility that NASCAR will have to postpone a premier-series event two days for the first time since a 1997 race at Talladega was pushed back to Tuesday by rain.

The postponement also creates a condensed week for series participants, who race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night. A Craftsman Truck event is scheduled for the Tennessee short track on Wednesday, with the Nextel Cup haulers set to enter the facility on Thursday night.

NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said the series would work to get the race in this week -- perhaps going even as late as Wednesday if necessary -- to avoid returning to Michigan later in the year. If more rain were to force the event to be pushed back until later in the season, it would alter the entire dynamic of the Chase.

The Chase participants, Poston said, are decided by rule after the season's 26th event. If weather precludes the Michigan race from being run this week, it would be rescheduled for the weekend after Thanksgiving. That would mean the Chase drivers would be decided not Sept. 8 at Richmond, but Sept. 16 at New Hampshire. And the championship would be decided not at Homestead on Nov. 18, but the next weekend back in Michigan.

But those are worst-case scenarios. There's a 40 percent chance of rain in the Brooklyn area on Tuesday, and only a 30 percent chance on Wednesday.

Monday's event will be televised by ESPN2.