Why is NASCAR Qualifying at Bristol Canceled Today? Is Tonight’s Race Delayed?

Lightning knocked out O’Reilly Auto Parts Series qualifying at Bristol Motor Speedway Friday afternoon, but NASCAR has not delayed tonight’s Food City 300, still on track for a 7:30 p.m. ET green flag.

With the metric formula setting Friday’s starting grid instead of lap times, Jesse Love inherits the pole, and the same storm cell that scrubbed qualifying remains the only real threat to tonight’s start.

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Weather Threat Looms Over Tonight’s Food City 300

Bristol’s Cup Series practice is still slated for 4:30 p.m. ET Friday, according to Bristol Motor Speedway’s official event schedule, a sign officials expect the storm cell to move through rather than wipe out the rest of the afternoon.

Scattered storms remain possible through the evening, but most forecasts show the rain chance dropping after an afternoon peak, with odds near 50 percent this afternoon falling to a 30 percent chance before 11 p.m. and lows around 67, according to the National Weather Service’s Friday Bristol outlook.

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WeatherBug’s hourly numbers show precipitation odds sliding into the 15 to 25 percent range by 6 to 8 p.m., down from higher odds earlier in the day, according to its hourly Bristol race-day forecast.

NASCAR’s own track weather product still flagged patchy rain nearby in the 7 to 10 p.m. window Friday afternoon, according to NASCAR.com’s live weather tracker, not a locked-in washout.

Teams also have a new tool if the track turns damp. NASCAR is letting crews choose when to swap wet-weather tires for slicks once the race goes green, rather than dictating the switch itself, according to Sports Illustrated’s Racing America coverage.

A short delay remains possible if another cell or lingering lightning pops up near green-flag time, but a full postponement looks less likely than a brief wait-and-dry or a short caution if the surface only gets damp. Bristol’s concrete and high banks still demand a dry racing line. Watch official NASCAR, Bristol and CW updates after 6 p.m. ET; until told otherwise, the Food City 300 plans on 7:30 p.m. on the CW.

Jesse Love Wins Bristol Pole by NASCAR Metric

O’Reilly Auto Parts Series practice ran as scheduled from 2 to 2:50 p.m. ET on Bristol’s 0.533-mile concrete oval, setting up a single-car, two-lap qualifying session originally slotted for 3:05 to 4 p.m., according to Jayski’s race weekend page for Bristol.

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Only four cars had turned timed laps when NASCAR called a lightning hold, according to Jayski’s live qualifying-session update Friday. The storm built fast in hot, humid conditions, and broadcasts even left live coverage during the hold, according to that same update, before officials scrapped the rest of the session.

Thirty-nine cars were entered for the Food City 300, but only 38 will start. Landon S. Huffman is the odd man out, left off the grid by the metric formula, according to motorsports insider Knighter01 on X.

Jesse Love’s No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet tops that formula, putting him on the pole, with Sheldon Creed alongside him on the outside of the front row, according to NASCAR reporter Dustin Albino on X. That order matches the metric list NASCAR.com published earlier in the week, on which Love graded out as the top-ranked Chase driver.

Tonight’s race is the third stop in the O’Reilly Chase, race 27 of 33. Creed enters Bristol holding a slim points lead over Justin Allgaier, according to the Tennessean’s Bristol coverage.

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