Numerous reasons rain tires bad idea in Cup Series

Here we go again: another rain delay, another round of discussions about why in the heck the Cup Series doesn't just deal with it and run a race on rain tires.

It's a novel idea, one that has been kicked around with gusto for years.

But it just isn't that simple, folks. Nor would it be very smart for the Cup guys to strap up and go racin' in the rain.

Beating the rain

Goodyear says a rain tire could be modified for Cup, but NASCAR has no plans to race on a wet track.

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Yes, it stinks that Sunday's Heluva Good! at The Glen was postponed until Monday because of severe weather. Yes, it stinks that this was the second week in a row NASCAR had to wait until Monday to run its Cup event -- and given the history of the event and the penchant for late afternoon summer thunderstorms in the Midwest, it could very well become three weeks in a row this weekend in the Irish Hills of Michigan.

But as romantic as racing on rain tires at a road course sounds, it just doesn't make sense.

Remember when NASCAR tried to do it in a Nationwide Series race in August of 2008 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, the road-course venue in Montreal? There were those in NASCAR who proclaimed it a success. In fact, there were colleagues in the media who thought it was a success -- including the Rain Man himself, Mark Aumann of the NASCAR.COM staff. (Local farmers need rain? Send Aumann and his rain slicker to cover a nearby race and the skies are sure to open up, but that's another story).

The truth is that if it was a success, it was a mixed one at best. And others thought the racin' in the rain experiment was an absolute disaster. (Continued)