Start of Coca-cola 600 delayed due to wet weather

NASCAR’S longest race just got a little longer.

The start of the Cocacola 600 has been delayed as Charlotte Motor Speedway officials continue to wait out the rain. The green flag had been set to drop at 6:21 p.m. ET, but there remains no timetable for when the race will start, officials said.

Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith tweeted he hopes there will be a pocket of dry weather that will allow them to start the race between 8 and 8:30 p.m.

“No guarantees, but I hope they are right! We shall see,” Smith tweeted.

Cup Series points leader William Byron will start on the pole after qualifying was rained out Saturday night.

In the meantime, nine mobile Tundra jet dryers repeatedly circled the 1.5-mile oval as a steady rain continued to fall. The grandstands were mostly empty and equipment on pit road remained covered.

Charlotte Motor Speedway officials said they plan to do everything they can to run the Coca-cola 600 on Sunday night, although the forecast calls for a 60-70% chance of rain throughout the night.

“Along with NASCAR, we’re continuing to monitor the weather, and some forecasts are showing clearing early this evening,” CMS said on its website. “We are prepared to launch a fullscale track-drying effort to get the Coca-cola 600 started. Our goal is to do everything possible to race tonight.”

The race is the longest on the NASCAR schedule at 600 miles over 400 laps and typically takes about five hours to complete. Half of the laps must be completed for it to be considered an official race.

If NASCAR can’t get the Coca-cola 600 in, it’s likely to move the race to Monday. The last time the race was moved to Memorial Day due to weather was 2009.

NASCAR has already postponed Saturday’s Xfinity Series race until Monday.