After a long delay that lasted over four hours, the Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway was officially postponed.
Texas Motor Speedway's official Twitter account shared the news on Sunday night:
Dustin Long of Motor Racing Network provides more information about the start time on Monday afternoon:
Michael Waltrip of Fox Sports checked in with multiple drivers while waiting for the rain to pass:
While it's the first postponed race of the season, this certainly isn't the first time that Mother Nature has left her stamp on NASCAR. Last week at Martinsville, the truck race was pushed back to Sunday night following persistent rain.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. offered some comic relief in response to the race being delayed a day:
As Earnhardt undressed, several drivers likely reconvened with their respective teams to formulate a plan for beating the fastest car at the track leading up to the race.
Though Earnhardt hasn't been victorious at the track since winning his first Cup race in Texas back in 2000, he's been a popular pick all week to take the checkered flag at the Duck Commander 500.
Starting from the 19th position on Monday, Earnhardt spoke about the parity in the sport and his motivation to win, per Bob Pockrass of Sporting News:
The sport benefits from having a lot of different guys being successful, a lot of guys winning. (But) I don’t want to see a lot of winners. I want to see 10 winners, 12 winners.
I don’t want to go back into points racing mode because there is so many winners and we get down to race 26 and we’ve got 20 winners. … I don’t think it really affects where I finish. I try to maximize points anyways and try to run as well as I can run and that produces the most points for me. I don’t particularly as a driver want to see a lot of winners. I want to win them all.
Texas Motor Speedway is a fast race track, and delaying the race is likely the best course of action for NASCAR in an effort to avoid any potential weather-induced mishaps. With the rain hopefully dissipating, the 1.5-mile speedway should be in perfect condition for any number of the top drivers to celebrate in Victory Lane.
Justin Allgaier as well as the entire Stewart-Haas Racing team thanked the fans on Twitter for sticking it out during the rain delay:
Tony Stewart sits on the pole with Las Vegas winner Brad Keselowski positioned just behind him. When the green flag does officially wave, either one of those notable drivers could clinch the top spot in the seventh race of the season.
Will NASCAR have its first repeat winner on the Sprint Cup level or will yet another driver like Stewart or Jimmie Johnson join the winners' circle? Fans will have to wait until Monday to find out.
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