Now you see it, now you don’t. If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. Phoenix International Raceway is having a variety of weathers this weekend. It’s been cold, breezy, chilly, gray, spritzy, misty, and downright rainy.
As NASCAR doesn’t race in the rain on speedways or ovals, the concern is getting in the scheduled Kobalt Tools 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race, with as little rain-related problems as possible.
It was a long time before someone brought out a jet dryer. It backed up foot traffic queueing up to cross the track. There were long lines on either side.
So I left the queue and looked other things which might affect the race.
I saw some blue skies with white fluffy clouds to the East, high above the grandstands, and gray cloud cover to the West over the hills.
Inside the garage, the teams were uncovering and going about their business; while on pit lane things were open air, they could easily be converted to covered.
There was a lone PIR truck with a fan in pit lane, blowing water to the side. Just as one of the Cup crew guys was telling me it would do no good because it was going to rain again, I started feeling more drops.
Later, SPEED TV was saying that due to the rain-washed slick track, there would be a competition yellow on Lap 40. The race is scheduled for 500 laps.
Stay tuned