NASCAR has postponed the start of the Cup Series’ Crayon 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to Monday due to inclement weather in the form of persistent rain and a flash flood warning near Loudon, New Hampshire that will occur throughout the event’s originally planned start on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET.
The postponement of the Cup Series event at the Magic Mile, which will serve as the 20th points-paying event of the 2023 schedule, also means that the event will now air at noon ET Monday on USA Network.
New Hampshire is no stranger to being pitted against Mother Nature which would result in the Cup Series event at the Magic Mile being delayed or shortened due to rain. Recently, the Cup event at New Hampshire in July 2021 which was won by Aric Almirola, was shortened by eight laps due to darkness and following an early rain delay. Before this, the Cup New Hampshire event in June 2009 was shortened by 28 laps due to a late-race rain delay that was eventually deemed official by NASCAR and where Joey Logano, who was a rookie competitor, claimed his first Cup career victory.
NASCAR’s postponement of Sunday’s Cup event also comes amid a recent string of on-track delays due to Mother Nature this season, such as when the weather affected the sport’s inaugural Chicago Street Course weekend events that resulted in the Xfinity Series event being shortened just shy of its halfway point. The Cup event at Chicago was also delayed by 90 minutes before commencing late Sunday and being shortened 25 laps shy of its scheduled distance. This past weekend, the Cup event at Atlanta Motor Speedway was shortened by 75 laps due to late inclement weather that resulted in William Byron being awarded his fourth victory of the 2023 season.
When the event starts, Christopher Bell, the reigning Cup Series winner at New Hampshire who notched his first pole position of the season after posting a lap at 124.781 mph in 30.524 seconds during Saturday’s qualifying session, will lead the field alongside teammate Martin Truex Jr., who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 124.752 mph in 30.531 seconds.
With the postponement set, the Cup Series’ Crayon 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway will commence on Monday, July 17, at noon ET on the USA network.
