RELATED: Full starting lineup | Live weather radar

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Sunday’s Food City 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway has been postponed due to rain. The race, No. 8 on the 36-race schedule for 2017, has been rescheduled for a 1 p.m. ET start Monday.

FOX will provide live television coverage; radio coverage is on the Performance Racing Network (PRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR.

"We are close to home so it will be fine," points leader Kyle Larson (Chip Ganassi Racing) said Sunday morning. "Our car was good in practice and I don’t think the track will be too different."

Larson will start from the pole position in his No. 42 Chevrolet, the result of rain canceling Friday’s qualifying and the field being set per the rulebook (owner points). With one victory (at Auto Club Speedway) and four runner-up finishes, Larson leads second-place Chase Elliott (Hendrick Motorsports) by 17 points. | See the full lineup

Rain also interrupted Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race, creating a delay of more than 90 minutes. But when the rain moved out of the area, officials were able to quickly dry the .533-mile track, and that race was run to its scheduled distance with Erik Jones (Joe Gibbs Racing) flagged the winner.

The rain continued throughout the night and through the morning, eventually forcing officials to postpone. It is the first race to be pushed to the following day due to inclement weather since last fall’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Both races at Pocono Raceway last year also were delayed from Sunday to Monday. Last year’s Bristol Night Race, the most recent Monster Energy Series event at the track, was postponed from Saturday to Sunday due to wet weather as well.

Because the rain will wash all the rubber build-up off the racing surface, drivers will face a "green" track on Monday when the event gets underway. NASCAR officials have already announced a Lap 60 competition caution to allow teams to check tire wear.

Kurt Busch (Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Ford) said the rain "is somewhat of a blessing in disguise."

"Because (track officials were) talking about laying down more VHT and they can’t do it while it’s wet," this year’s Daytona 500 winner said. "The VHT is like a grip applicator and you have to heat it up to make it work, so in the drag racing world the guys do a burnout through it and you have that stripe that you just heat it up and that’s what has to happen for us oval guys. We have to have more cars out there to heat it up, so it’s going to be like ice when we first start off and then the grip will come back once we do heat it up after this rain delay."

Track officials applied an adhesive compound (VHT) to the lower lanes in the turns prior to this weekend’s race at the request of drivers. A similar substance was used in 2016.

Matt Puccia, crew chief of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford with driver Trevor Bayne, said the rain will likely wash what remains of the compound off the racing surface and, as a result, "I think that you’re going to see the top groove move up and you’ll see more of the two- and three-lane racing that we’ve traditionally seen here."

"I think there might still be a little bit of an advantage on the bottom," Puccia said, "but I definitely think the top groove will come in, which, for us, makes it a little bit more challenging because we haven’t had any opportunity to run up on the top yet."

Some other key story lines to consider with the rain wrecking Sunday’s schedule:

• Beating the Busches will be tough for competitors; and what about that pesky JGR slow start? | Read more

• An updated racing groove has the track extra sticky | Read more

• Two XFINITY Series drivers had an altercation that included a connected punch, and a trip to the NASCAR hauler | Read more

• Kyle Busch was fast Saturday, but there were multiple spins, including one from Larson that sent his car into the wall | Read more

• Larson looks like a championship contender so far, and he and teammate Jamie McMurray have Chip Ganassi Racing surging | Read more

RELATED: Full starting lineup | Live weather radar

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Sunday’s Food City 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway has been postponed due to rain. The race, No. 8 on the 36-race schedule for 2017, has been rescheduled for a 1 p.m. ET start Monday.

FOX will provide live television coverage; radio coverage is on the Performance Racing Network (PRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR.

"We are close to home so it will be fine," points leader Kyle Larson (Chip Ganassi Racing) said Sunday morning. "Our car was good in practice and I don’t think the track will be too different."

Larson will start from the pole position in his No. 42 Chevrolet, the result of rain canceling Friday’s qualifying and the field being set per the rulebook (owner points). With one victory (at Auto Club Speedway) and four runner-up finishes, Larson leads second-place Chase Elliott (Hendrick Motorsports) by 17 points. | See the full lineup

Rain also interrupted Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race, creating a delay of more than 90 minutes. But when the rain moved out of the area, officials were able to quickly dry the .533-mile track, and that race was run to its scheduled distance with Erik Jones (Joe Gibbs Racing) flagged the winner.

The rain continued throughout the night and through the morning, eventually forcing officials to postpone. It is the first race to be pushed to the following day due to inclement weather since last fall’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Both races at Pocono Raceway last year also were delayed from Sunday to Monday. Last year’s Bristol Night Race, the most recent Monster Energy Series event at the track, was postponed from Saturday to Sunday due to wet weather as well.

Because the rain will wash all the rubber build-up off the racing surface, drivers will face a "green" track on Monday when the event gets underway. NASCAR officials have already announced a Lap 60 competition caution to allow teams to check tire wear.

Kurt Busch (Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Ford) said the rain "is somewhat of a blessing in disguise."

"Because (track officials were) talking about laying down more VHT and they can’t do it while it’s wet," this year’s Daytona 500 winner said. "The VHT is like a grip applicator and you have to heat it up to make it work, so in the drag racing world the guys do a burnout through it and you have that stripe that you just heat it up and that’s what has to happen for us oval guys. We have to have more cars out there to heat it up, so it’s going to be like ice when we first start off and then the grip will come back once we do heat it up after this rain delay."

Track officials applied an adhesive compound (VHT) to the lower lanes in the turns prior to this weekend’s race at the request of drivers. A similar substance was used in 2016.

Matt Puccia, crew chief of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford with driver Trevor Bayne, said the rain will likely wash what remains of the compound off the racing surface and, as a result, "I think that you’re going to see the top groove move up and you’ll see more of the two- and three-lane racing that we’ve traditionally seen here."

"I think there might still be a little bit of an advantage on the bottom," Puccia said, "but I definitely think the top groove will come in, which, for us, makes it a little bit more challenging because we haven’t had any opportunity to run up on the top yet."

Some other key story lines to consider with the rain wrecking Sunday’s schedule:

• Beating the Busches will be tough for competitors; and what about that pesky JGR slow start? | Read more

• An updated racing groove has the track extra sticky | Read more

• Two XFINITY Series drivers had an altercation that included a connected punch, and a trip to the NASCAR hauler | Read more

• Kyle Busch was fast Saturday, but there were multiple spins, including one from Larson that sent his car into the wall | Read more

• Larson looks like a championship contender so far, and he and teammate Jamie McMurray have Chip Ganassi Racing surging | Read more