Insider rips NASCAR after FireKeepers Casino 400 weather, postponement debacle

NASCAR made the decision to push the finish to the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway to Monday due to rain.

The race will resume at 11 a.m. ET with 149 laps to go. Rain impacting a Sunday race is nothing new, and Jeff Gluck of The Athletic wonders just how much longer NASCAR will continue to tolerate it. Gluck suggested NASCAR move the start times up at tracks such as Michigan which have no lights.

“I understand TV is king. Really, I do,” Gluck wrote on X. “But at what point does this just seem insane? Move the start times up at tracks with no lights. Especially with the threat of rain. Please. People have work and school tomorrow and they could have seen an official race today.

The late afternoon start times have come under scrutiny in recent years, and the conversation seems to come back to focus after days like these. In years past, NASCAR had the ability to dictate the starting times for races. Times, however, have changed and the networks primarily have the power to schedule races at the times they see fit.

But as Gluck mentioned, is anybody capitalizing on the strategy of scheduling races later in the day when rain postpones it to Monday? Viewership will surely take a hit by the racing re-starting on a Monday morning with kids in school and many at work.

NASCAR FireKeepers Casino 400 gets underway after rain delay

We did, however, see some compelling racing at Michigan before Mother Nature stepped in. Denny Hamlin started on the pole, but quickly conceded the lead to Kyle Larson. Hamlin and Larson battled throughout Stage 1 for the lead before Bubba Wallace took advantage on Lap 35. As Hamlin and Larson raced side-by-side going into Turn 1, Wallace zoomed past them to take his first lead of the day.

Hamlin got to the back bumper of Wallace in the next few laps but got loose in Turn 4 and went for a spin, bringing out the first caution of the day. Wallace pitted while leading and Ryan Blaney stayed out to take the stage victory.

“I thought our car was pretty good,” Blaney told NBC Sports. “I didn’t take off pretty good and I kind of struggled early and then I got better halfway through that first stage and got to fifth or sixth, something like that and [crew chief] Jonathan [Hassler] made a good decision to stay out and win the stage, which was good. We’ll pay a little bit of a penalty for it to start Stage 2, but I thought it was good to take that chance and get those playoff points.

“Hopefully our car is good enough to get back through the field. Proud of the Menards Dutch Boy Ford Mustang and hopefully we can continue to tweak on it a little bit because our speed’s pretty good.”