NASCAR postpones Richmond Sprint Cup, Nationwide races to Sunday
Quote selected text Published September 5th, 2008 in NASCAR News
NASCAR has postponed the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 from Saturday night to 1 p.m. EDT Sunday at Richmond International Raceway because of the threat of Tropical Storm Hanna, series officials announced Friday. The officials canceled qualifying for both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series races Friday as well.
With up to four inches of rain possible in the Richmond area, NASCAR officials to go ahead and postpone the events Friday. The Nationwide Series race will be run Sunday at 7 p.m. after the stands are cleared from the Nationwide race.
“We’ve been in constant touch today with the governor’s office, Henrico County officials, and other local officials and reached this decision about (5 p.m.) after much discussion and consideration,” NASCAR Vice President Jim Hunter said. “The emergency officials in the state and locally are telling us there are going to be some high winds tonight and in the morning that could knock down power lines, knock down trees in the roads. We just felt like this was the right thing to do.”
The Cup race, the final of NASCAR’s regular season that will set the 12-driver Chase For The Sprint Cup field, will now go up against the first full day of the NFL and will be televised on ESPN. The Nationwide race will be on ESPN2.
The Cup race will no longer be an impound event as teams will now be allowed to work on the cars Sunday morning before the race.
“We worked very, very closely with NASCAR and the local officials and keeping a very close eye on the weather,” Richmond International Raceway President Doug Fritz said. “Sometimes there’s hope and sometimes there’s not. … We’re still looking forward to two days of great racing all crammed into one now.”
- Nationwide race postponed until Monday
- Tickets still available for Richmond Cup and Nationwide races
- Richmond Nationwide race bumped from ESPN on Friday
- NASCAR announces 2009 Sprint Cup schedule
- TSN to air all 2008 Sprint Cup races
omg why have the race in the morning
complete bs
nationwide should go first
then cup, nothin more than a night race
to set the chase
The Cup race is going first because that is the more important race and they want/need to get that in as soon as possible, while the Nationwide race could be pushed back to the end of the season with little implication to that series.
Its really not that hard to understand. Plus Night racing is overrated. It used to be something special with maybe 5 races, now it’s just about every race and it’s annoying.
Well, its all a bunch of crap thanks to ESPN. It isnt that bad here and it is going to get worst but Saturday nite was lookin good until ESPN pulled their equipment and personnal out of here and thats why its a Sunday thing. Im glad this is their last race. Thanks alot guys
Howie Motorsports Photography wrote:
i thought it was thier last race for espn and that thier switching stations to ABC so now it wouldnt be nascar on espn but nascar nascar on abc…to tell u the truth i miss nbc coverage
sorry for the double nascar
I have to say, NASCAR did the right thing in postponing the races until Sunday, the weather should be clear by then…but now I wonder what Hanna is going to do up here in Massachusetts, but they are forcasting Sunny weather for Mass on late sunday, so that’s a good thing.
Howie Motorsports Photography wrote:
Howie I’m starting to doubt you are who you say you are.
ABC and ESPN are the same thing. Heck ALL Sports programing on ABC is actually even called ESPN on ABC.
Oh and I’ve been to Richmond when it’s raining a lot (during the state fair) and those parking lots turn into nothing but a swamp.
Fisha695 wrote:
Umm, Oh FISHA they are not the same
Steve Bornstein, president of ESPN since 1990, was made president of ABC Sports as well. This integration culminated in the 2006 decision to merge ABC Sports’ operations with ESPN. As a result, all of ABC’s sports programming now uses ESPN on ABC. However, ABC Sports is still legally separate from ESPN. They dont use the same crews or use the same equipment so they are not the same.
They don’t use the same crews… BS I can name at least 20 crew members that are on both.
And while it may not be the same exact EQ, last time I checked Mickey Mouse still ultimately owns it all.
Personally I think Nascar did the right thing, instead of having people show up and wait all day long in the rain and wind, they made the call early enough so people can plan accordingly. Not to mention the weather is bad today, its windy and rainy, and im sure its alot easier for the police adn fire departments and emt’s to have all available personel available for possible emergencies, and having the streets cleared so they can get there. Sunday will be alot better and, yeah its going to suck not having a not race. Thhis will be my first richmond race in the day going to be weird.
TERESAFAN88
Im sorry but that last comment of yours, lol lol what a joke. I have no idea what you’ll are talking about, but to say you are sitting next to someone staying in the same hotel and to have leave a comment whether he wrote it or not, is dumb. First of all who beleive it and second of all who gives a damn.
Fisha,
Your right Richmond is going to be a swapm tommorow, it always is after a lil rain much less a tropical storm. Good luck trying to prove a point with some of the knuckleheads here they try to prove there points by name dropping like they know everyone in the world, from what ive seen most of the crap they say is BS rumors, then when it finally comes out there rumors are wrong then there a re a million of excuses and more name dropping so they can look important.
as for the race im looking forwar to sunday and applaud nascar on there choice, they thought about the drivers, crews, fans, adn the community they were in, and i think it was a very respectable and well made decision.
ROWDY BUSH wrote:
If you were here you wouldnt even be saying that because we only had a little rain and at at 3pm it turned blue skys and was beautiful and it is now 11 and is still beautiful. NASCAR sucks, they blew it. period and everyone here agrees. now we have to race in 90 degree weather . NASCAR blew it
ROWDY BUSH wrote:
they didnt think about nothing but there greedy selves again. they are going to empty the stands after the cup race and try to make people buy tickets for the Nationwide race. WATCH FOR ALL THE EMPTY SEATS. fans will remember this one for along time. NASCAR blew it.
HOWIE,,
Got news for you the seats are already sold. Also NASCAR was assuming there would a tropical storm, so they were working together with the city, I would rather emergency personel be there for a storm related emergency then have them standing there directing traffic for the race that was canceled. Face it as much as I love NASCAR its not the only thing in the world we have other people we need to worry about. Im sure if it was your house or your family in the path of the storm a nascar race would not be on your top priority. Who cares about EMPTY SEATS as long as people are ok, and there famlies are ok. Im glad nascar canceled the race and im glad it wasnt as bad as they expected it to be, that means we have people and communities spared loss of property, which in the end is far more important then the race, I love nascar and thanks for waiting,
ROWDY BUSH wrote:
Umm, I hate to inform you but there are 15,000 seats left for the cup race and 50,000 seats left for the Nationwide race.There was no storm just rain. Everyone in the police dept are still here just sitting like us so unless you are here you need to know what you are talking about.
Howie,
I have been here since thursday and I havent seen half the cops, as i would during a normal race weekend who cares how bad it was Im glad nascar prepared for the worse. As for the seats left over I dont beleive that and I thought you were a picture taker not in charge of ticket sales, so dont come here quoting ticket sales. Face it nascar made a good move in what they did. I agree with it and Im sure other people in richmond not related or even interested in nascar were glad the race was one last thing the police had to worry bout.
ROWDY BUSH wrote:
Well if you have been here since Thursday then you know that we could have ran the Nationwide race last night because it didnt start raining till 3am and tonight was a perfect night so if you say you are here you wouldnt be backing NASCAR on this because no one else here is. And no I dont just shoot pictures I know every aspect of what goes on during the weekend and that includes everything from the people that run Motorsports Authentics to Americrown to ISC.
BLAH BLAH BLAH
I am not arguing what weather took place, I am saying nascar did the correct thing in not putting themselves first. There is an entire community in richmond other then then nascar, and im glad they though of them to. Get off your high horse you arent the only person nascar pay attention to. Thank god the storm was not as bad as predicted in richmond, but in other areas of va it was bad and there are famlies with nopower and no communication to the outside world. So thank you nascar for not putting yourself first.
NASCAR always puts themselves first, that’s why they postponed it so they could sell more tickets tomorrow. why do you think they said they would empty the whole grandstand area between races and make people buy tickets to a Nationwide race that wasnt even 3/4 sold out. You just dont know the way NASCAR thinks.I( do I have been watching there atics for years.
Face it Howie you are just crying like a little baby because now you have to work on Sunday. Grow up, Get over it, and if you don’t like it leave it’s as simple as that.
Howie Motorsports Photography wrote:
They should empty the grandstands between races. You want to see the race from the stands you should have to pay the price of admission. That’s not NASCAR being Greedy, that Capitalism, that’s what this Country is built on.
Heck I’d rather have 30,000 empty seats then 30,000 people watching the race from the stands for free.
And why do you think the races weren’t sold out. Well the Cup race wasn’t because it’s boring, and that’s a track problem not a NASCAR design problem, the Nationwide race isn’t sold out because it’s not even the Nationwide series anymore it’s Cup fricken lite and there is nobody to blame for that but NASCAR for allowing the drivers to race in that series.
Lordy, Lordy, Lordy, people are out here acting like they know it all from Fisha695 to Rowdy Dummy Bush doing it.
Yes boy’s Howie does know what he is talking about as I am typing this from my camper, I am seeing what he is talking about, they could’ve held the race as scheduled…
its a normal forum until howie and rowdy bush attack each other
Sal#24 wrote:
========================================
That’s cause Rowdy thinks he knows all when someone is trying to explain what’s right and what’s wrong.
Rowdy don’t know his @$$ from a hole in the ground…
anonymous and sal
First off I never attacked howie I simply stated how nascar did the right thing by waiting, wether the weather was as bad as predicted or not. Bottom line is nascar made a choice on what was predicted to happen and their choice was not to have the race. I know howie knows everything and everyone in nascar, and allthough he acts like nostradomus on here half of his predictions are wrong as for him insulting nascar that is merely his opinion. As is it my opinion that i think they do a good job in waiting.
bottom line NASCAR screwed up. the stands were pretty much empty for the cup race and they had only about 8000 in the stands for the NATIONWIDE race. what a disgrace.
You people kill me, nascar made a decision based on the what forecasters said was going to happen, so if you want to blame anyone blame the forecasters. Again I much rahter have emergency personel on standby SAT. for a true emergency then directing for a race that they were going to stop.
If you feel any different your a selfish punk.
Howie Motorsports Photography wrote:
WE have to race? Which car do you drive? Must be tough to take pics, hold the wheel, and shift! I’ve tried doing it in my truck with my DSLR at 70MPH… Can’t imagine doing it on the track!
Funny how NASCAR sucks, Kyle Busch sucks, everyone sucks… Supposedly they’re the ones paying you and putting food on your table, but you sure do talk a lot of crap about them… Regardless of what you think, NASCAR used the information they were given by meteorologists that predict weather for a living and made a call based on that. If it ended up being wrong, so be it, but the flip side of that is that if they didn’t call it off and it rained all day, you’d all be complaining about that too! Personally I’d rather be put out a little and have the race during the day than have the possibility of sitting around all day in the rain and not getting it in!
JEFF I AGREE