RELATED: Standings going into final race
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Sunday’s NASCAR finale has four drivers vying for the championship in what NASCAR officials like to refer to as a Game 7 moment. There have already been plenty of pivotal points during this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs, but what if Sunday’s showdown is shortened into a Game 5 1/2 moment?
The threat of a damp forecast at Homestead-Miami Speedway has raised plenty of questions about how a potentially rain-altered Ford EcoBoost 400 (3 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM) could play out, especially with so much on the line in the season-ending race. The National Weather Service rates the chances of precipitation on Sunday at 60 percent, with thunderstorms especially likely in the morning.
The possibilities come on the heels of the championship field being settled in a rain-abbreviated race the previous weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. The stakes will be even higher Sunday, but the procedures for declaring a race official will remain the same.
“It’s not a new rule. It’s not something different,” said three-time series champion Tony Stewart. “Is it ideal, no. Is it OK, yes. I mean, we don’t have a choice. We can’t control the weather. It’s not ideal by any means. I don’t think anybody wants to have that scenario and have to race in that scenario, but as well, at the same time, we’ve all raced under those circumstances, and if it has to end that way, that’s the way it’ll end.”
NASCAR has maintained long-standing procedures that a race becomes officials once it passes the halfway point, but the sanctioning body has also historically made every effort to run its races on the scheduled date. Advancements in technology have helped competition officials make more informed decisions about the weather, but the considerations — for fans, teams and broadcast partners — make those decisions even more critical, especially when the outcome of the race or the season-long championship weighs in the balance.
To help combat the effects of rain this weekend, NASCAR can employ 17 Air Titan track dryers, 12 conventional jet dryers, and four vacuum trucks — an armada that NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France touted as a record number of resources. But France also mentioned in his State of the Sport address on Friday that watching the skies and planning for inclement weather was a necessary angle for teams to work around.
“We’re looking at everything,” France said. “Our view now is that like a lot of things that aren’t necessarily perfect, so to speak, that’s part of the game. That’s part of racing that it’s part of the strategy. You saw that last week in Phoenix. That you have to anticipate weather as being a factor in deciding things, as unfortunate as that is. Hopefully it won’t be a factor on Sunday.”
Carl Edwards was among the unfortunate ones last weekend, missing out on his Championship 4 bid by just five points when rain escalated with 93 laps remaining. Edwards told his crew “they can’t let it end like this” over the team radio as the race went to red-flag conditions, but NASCAR officials did, leaving Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. to join Jeff Gordon among the final quartet.
Busch was among those on the plus side of the rain at Phoenix, a situation he wouldn’t mind being in Sunday if circumstances cut things short.
“I think it would be very unfortunate, you know, but it is what it is,” Busch said. “I mean, the rules have been the way the rules are for a long, long time and everybody ridicules NASCAR for changing the rules whenever they want, and this time they’re sticking to it. Like Jeff said earlier, I hope I’m the guy leading when it’s raining, and if it’s raining we’re going to be doing a heck of a rain dance.”