Charlotte’s clouds are coming to Nashville. After rain and thunderstorms washed out much of the Coca-Cola 600 events, a similar forecast is already haunting the Nashville race weekend.

On Friday, the city has already seen the cancelation of the season's first Full Moon Pickin’ Party bluegrass music series at Percy Warner Park. National Weather Service's Alexandra Holley said, "Scattered to numerous thunderstorms are forecasted for this evening and Saturday."

Friday shows a 67 percent chance of rain, with thundershowers being predicted for the night during the Truck race.

Saturday seems a better day comparatively, but still holds the possibility of thunderstorms developing at noon with a 45 percent chance of rain. By evening, the weather gives some relief with just a 15 percent chance of rain with cloudy skies.

But Sunday is when things could get worse. Weather.com predicts PM T-storms with the highest showers on the weekend. And it’s not just the rain.

"Sunday precipitation and thunder chances look to peak before the green flag flies (for the Cracker Barrel 400), but lightning is still a concern for the pre-race festivities," added Holley.

Daytime shows a 64 percent rain chance, and the pre-race festivities onwards could witness scattered thunderstorms with a 46 percent precipitation chance. But as Holley says, if there’s lightning, that has the potential to delay the race event significantly.

According to rules, a 30-minute stoppage is mandated whenever lightning is detected within an eight-mile radius of the racetrack. Additionally, Holley also mentioned not to rule out the possibility of an isolated strong storm with hazardous gusty winds.

In recent years, Nashville Superspeedway has seen a pattern of weather interruptions. One of the notable ones was the Cup race in 2022 that was halted twice due to lightning and heavy rain. The 2024 race was also temporarily red-flagged due to inclement weather.

The only good news that comes out of this rainy history is that no Cup Series race at the Nashville Superspeedway has ever been postponed due to weather. Let’s hope it maintains the record this weekend as well.

Weekend schedule and coverage

Friday will see the Truck activities with practice and qualifying starting from 4 p.m. ET and 5:05 p.m. ET, respectively. The Allegiance 200 (150 laps, 45-50-55) will take place at 8 p.m. ET. All events will be covered by FS1.

Saturday will see O’Reilly practice and qualifying going green at 2 p.m. ET and 3:05 p.m. ET, respectively. The CW will handle the O’Reilly coverage.

These will be followed by the Cup Series practice and qualifying beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET, covered by Prime. The Sports Illustrated Resorts 250 will go green at 7:30 p.m. ET (188 laps, 45-45-98).

Sunday, when the weather is concerning, will see the Cracker Barrel 400 going green at 7 p.m. ET. The race will cover 300 laps and 399 miles around Nashville Superspeedway’s 1.33-mile concrete oval.

You can read more on the Daytona Racing Digest!

Written by

Suyashdeep Sason

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason