New Hampshire Motor Speedway announces restart time for USA Today 301 amid weather delay

After nearly two hours of being under red flag due to weather, Sunday’s USA TODAY 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway will resume at approximately 6:45 p.m. ET.

Drivers will hop inside their cars at 6:40 p.m. and engines will fire at 6:43 p.m. There will be 82 laps remaining in the race when the field gets back to green. Tyler Reddick will be out front, as he was when the race was initially delayed.

The race resumption will be interesting, as all cars will be moving to the Goodyear wet weather tires NASCAR permitted each team to carry. Each team will have three sets to use for the remaining laps. NASCAR most recently used the wet weather tires at the start of the race at Richmond back in March.

“Helps NASCAR get back to racing quicker,” NASCAR spokesperson Mike Forde said of how the wet weather tires work. “No longer need a completely dry track to get em back on track … Nothing dries a track better than 30+ race cars. Wet weather tires helps make that happen.”

NASCAR spokesperson explains controversial hold decision amid rain at New Hampshire

Many fans and drivers felt there was a window earlier to get to racing with the rain tires, but NASCAR elected to keep the race under red, allowing the severe thunderstorm to pass through.

“For clarity’s sake, when it comes to ovals, these cars do not have wipers or flaps,” Forde wrote on X. “NASCAR has been consistent on not racing on ovals if there’s rain and/or the track could have spray for safety purposes.”

With the bad weather having subsided, all signs point to hopefully all 82 laps getting completed before sunset. New Hampshire notably doesn’t have lights. NASCAR has said they will call the race if limited visibility becomes an issue.

After about 20-30 laps of racing on the wet weather tires, there could be a scenario where slicks could be used again after the track gets fully dry.