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Is the NASCAR race at Bristol delayed today? Here’s the latest weather update and when the Food City 300 is expected to start.
Rain and lightning shut down Bristol Motor Speedway Friday, raising the possibility of a delay in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Food City 300 and testing Sheldon Creed’s points lead in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase.
Creed built that edge with a win and a runner-up to open the Chase, but a long wait now raises questions about track position and tire strategy heading into stage racing.
When will the race start? “Sorry just don’t know,” wrote NASCAR insider Bob Pockrass at about 7:05 p.m. ET. “Rain has mostly stopped but there is a possibility of more rain. My guess would be 8ish but that is a guess.”
As it turned out, engines were fired at 7:33 p.m. even as drying of the pit road continued. As a result, NASCAR added extra pace laps before the green flag was waved, to allow more time for drying. At about 7:40 NASCAR deemed the track dry enough to race on, meaning the actual delay in the green flag would be a bit more than 10 minutes.
Lightning cleared Bristol’s grandstands around 3:30 p.m. ET, kicking off a string of extended holds documented on Bristol Motor Speedway’s weekend weather page. NASCAR called off O’Reilly Auto Parts Series qualifying by 4:05 p.m., pushing the Food City 300 lineup to the sanctioning body’s metric formula.
Friday’s forecast called for roughly even odds of rain with highs in the upper 80s, and scattered storms delivered on that promise all afternoon, according to an afternoon rundown of the delay. Observations from the area airport put temperatures near 73 degrees with humidity above 85 percent as the evening hold dragged on, according to the National Weather Service’s Bristol-area forecast.
Rain odds were sliding by early evening. Hourly odds showed chances near 65 percent around 6 p.m. dropping toward 15 percent by 9 p.m., with lows near 66 degrees overnight, according to WeatherBug’s hourly Bristol rain forecast data. Bristol Motor Speedway’s own updates still listed the Food City 300 as on schedule as of 6:07 p.m., even after Cup Series practice was scrapped.
NASCAR O’REILLY AUTO PARTS SERIES — FOOD CITY 300 STARTING LINEUP
Bristol Motor Speedway • O’Reilly Auto Parts Series
Row
Pos
Car
Driver
Team
1
1
2
Jesse Love (C)
Samsara Chevrolet
2
00
Sheldon Creed (C)
Ollie’s Chevrolet
2
3
41
Sam Mayer (C)
Starkey Chevrolet
4
1
Carson Kvapil (C)
Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet
3
5
54
Taylor Gray (C)
Operation 300 Toyota
6
19
Brent Crews # (C)
YoungLife Toyota
4
7
99
Parker Retzlaff (C)
Free Bird Southern Spring Water Chevrolet
8
8
Sammy Smith (C)
Pilot Chevrolet
5
9
7
Justin Allgaier (C)
BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet
10
88
Rajah Caruth (C)
HendrickCars.com Chevrolet
6
11
20
Brandon Jones (C)
Menards/SunnyD Toyota
12
26
Dean Thompson
Thompson Pipe Group Toyota
7
13
27
Jeb Burton
Sprayway Chevrolet
14
39
Ryan Sieg
SciAps Chevrolet
8
15
28
Kyle Sieg
Sustainachem Chevrolet
16
18
William Sawalich
SoundGear Toyota
9
17
44
Brennan Poole
Macc Door Systems Chevrolet
18
48
Patrick Staropoli #
Syfovre Chevrolet
10
19
96
Anthony Alfredo
Dude Wipes Fragrance Free Chevrolet
20
21
Austin Hill (C)
Bennett Transportation Chevrolet
11
21
31
Blaine Perkins
Capriccio Red Blend Sangria Chevrolet
22
92
Josh Williams
KK’s Diecast Chevrolet
12
23
32
Andrew Patterson
Winsupply Chevrolet
24
91
Stefan Parsons (i)
David’s Electric Chevrolet
13
25
0
Garrett Smithley
North Georgia Spring Chevrolet
26
17
Corey Day (C)
HendrickCars.com Chevrolet
14
27
02
Ryan Ellis
Tablo TV Chevrolet
28
07
Josh Bilicki
Mando Chevrolet
15
29
51
Jeremy Clements
One Stop Convenience/AllSouthElectric Chevrolet
30
55
David Starr
Marathon Coach Chevrolet
16
31
42
Logan Bearden
T3 Vodka Chevrolet
32
45
Lavar Scott #
TruShine Car Wash Chevrolet
17
33
87
Nick Sanchez (i)
Peterson Racing Group Chevrolet
34
24
Harrison Burton
Klutch Vodka Toyota
18
35
53
Carson Ware
frik.io Chevrolet
36
9
Jake Finch
O’Reilly Auto Parts Chevrolet
19
37
47
Natalie Decker (i)
T.N Dickinson’s Witch Hazel Chevrolet
38
38
JJ Yeley
Ford
Did Not Qualify: #43 Landon S. Huffman. Track Race Record: Elliott Sadler, 03/17/12, 1:41:16, 94.74 mph. Bristol Motor Speedway. Data provided by NASCAR Statistics, 9/18/2026.
Jesse Love, Sheldon Creed Set Bristol Lineup
Jesse Love starts on the pole in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, with Creed lined up second in the No. 00 Haas Factory Team car, according to Jayski’s O’Reilly Series race page. Sam Mayer, Carson Kvapil and Taylor Gray fill out the top five, and Justin Allgaier starts ninth, according to The Tennessean‘s coverage. Chase contenders Brandon Jones, Austin Hill and Corey Day start 11th, 20th and 26th, respectively, and Landon Huffman failed to qualify.
NASCAR insider Bob Pockrass reported mid-afternoon that lightning remained a threat and that a few drops had begun falling by 4:55 p.m. As of that update, NASCAR had not pushed the race off its 7:30 p.m. target.
What a Delay Means for Sheldon Creed’s Chase Lead
A same-night delay would leave Love and Creed’s front-row starting spots intact, though NASCAR’s revised wet-weather rules now let teams decide independently when to swap rain tires for slicks, according to NASCAR’s newly revised wet-tire protocol rules. That flexibility puts extra pressure on strategy for cars starting deep, including Hill and Day.
A national-series race becomes official at the halfway point or the end of Stage 2, whichever comes first — lap 150 or lap 170 of Friday’s scheduled 300. Rain after that threshold hands the win to whoever leads at the time. A stoppage before it sends NASCAR toward resuming later or postponing outright rather than naming a winner. Either way, Friday’s metric lineup carries over to any makeup date, and Chase points stay frozen until the Food City 300 goes official.
Bristol’s lights mean darkness alone won’t stop the race; only standing water or active lightning can. Concrete dries fast once storms clear, which is why track officials kept Friday’s 7:30 p.m. green-flag target on the board even as rain pushed through the area.
Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist who covers MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, boxing, golf, and Olympic sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Newspaper and Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering the Olympics, pro baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin