NASCAR is hosting a fall race on the Charlotte Motor Speedway oval for the first time since 2017, after spending the last few years utilizing the infield road course. Unfortunately, they will likely to have to contend with significant rainfall as Hurricane Isaias moves inland.
Isaias is the first hurricane of what has been a very tame 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, and is set to make landfall very late Friday in Alabama. It’s also the latest in the year where the first hurricane of the season has formed, on record.
As it moves north, it will dump rain on Charlotte, North Carolina. The weather outlook is fine for Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race and the Celebration of Life for Kyle Busch that follows it, but the real question mark is for Saturday and Sunday.
Thankfully, the latest projections show the storm moving more to the west after landfall, which will help to limit its impact on the race weekend if that stays true. Originally, Sunday looked like a washout, but now, Saturday appears to be facing a greater risk.
NASCAR may be able to get Cup practice and qualifying in without issue (1-3pm EST), but the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series will 100% be racing to beat the rain. And once it arrives, it will not let up for several hours. The NOAPS race is scheduled to start a 4pm EST.
As of Thursday mid-day, it looks like the inclement weather should move on by late Sunday morning or early Sunday afternoon, which should leave NASCAR plenty of time to get the track dry and run the full 400-mile Cup race at Charlotte. The race is scheduled to go green just after 3pm EST, but Charlotte does have lights if needed.
Of course, projections keep shifting as meteorologists track the storm, and the threat of lightning could freeze all on-track activity long before rain ever does.
Three of the first five Cup races of the Chase have failed to get practice and qualifying in due to rain, and the grid has been set by the metric instead. If the weather arrives early and that happens at Charlotte, then championship leader Kyle Larson will start from pole with Chase Briscoe joining him on the front row.
Earlier this year, Charlotte made some unfortunate history as the first weekend in NASCAR history where all three races were rain-shortened, with the series also dealing with heavy fog. Thankfully, that outcome is likely to be avoided here, but the rain is coming … it’s just a matter of when.
Local meteorologist Brandon Lawson has a great breakdown of the weekend outlook and continues to provide updates, which we’ve included before:
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
– The Motorsport.com Team
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: motorsport.com
