Wet weather moves practice time to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 12:55 p.m.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice for Wednesday at Kentucky Speedway was washed out by wet weather at the 1.5-mile track and will now happen on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 12:55 p.m. ET.
Originally, there were two two-hour sessions scheduled, one from 3-5 p.m. ET and another from 6-8 p.m. ET. However, wet weather delayed the start of the first session leading to a revised schedule that called for a three-hour practice to start at 5 p.m. ET or as soon as the track was ready.
However, a little after 7:20 p.m. ET, the planned practice was called.
Air Titans took to the track around 3:20 p.m. ET to begin drying the 1.5-mile oval but more rain close to the revised start time of 5 p.m. ET delayed practice some more and eventually was called. There are 10 Air Titans at the track, per a NASCAR spokesperson.
The extra practice time had been added to the schedule as the Quaker State 400 Presented by Advance Auto Parts (Saturday, NBC Sports Network, NBC Sports Live Extra, PRN, SiriusXM) will be the first race with a new aeropackage.
The Kentucky package will feature a shorter spoiler as well as changes to the splitter and splitter extension panel (radiator pan), moves that will lessen the amount of downforce on the cars by approximately 1,000 pounds, and, it is hoped, create more passing on the track.
Steve O'Donnell, Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer for NASCAR, told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that officials believe the change will be effective for the 1.5-mile track.
"We're going to look at the measurements we look at every day: were there more passes, who was able to compete, how did the field look throughout the race, obviously fan measurements post-race," he said.
Teams will also be on-track for two practices on Friday as well as Coors Light Pole Qualifying.
Kentucky is not the only track to see new rules packages this season. On Tuesday, NASCAR announced plans for a similar rules package in September at Darlington Raceway and new rules packages for the Sprint Cup races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July and Michigan International Speedway in August.