After two rain delays, race is hopeful today

Weather permitting, it will be NASCAR’s first Tuesday race since 1970.

SPORTING NEWS NASCAR WIRE SERVICE

BROOKLYN, Mich. — With NASCAR drivers waiting out another rain delay Monday at Michigan International Speedway, boredom began to set in as the start time of the 3M Performance 400 was moved back from the scheduled noon start.

During a break in the weather, NASCAR called for the Nextel Cup cars to be brought to pit road at 2 p.m., but a light, misty rain began falling soon thereafter, ultimately causing postponement of the race for the second straight day.

The 23rd event on the schedule was reset for 10 a.m. today, making it the first Tuesday race in NASCAR’s top division since Aug. 11, 1970, when Richard Petty won at Ona, W.Va. — provided the weather doesn’t interfere again. ESPN2 will televise the race.

“I’ve just been bored,” said Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 9 Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge. “We came up here to race. With the rain, we’ve spent a lot of time in the rain or just waiting. There’s not a lot to do in these motor homes.

Waiting to go out and race

“You run out of movies to watch … and these satellite dishes don’t work when it rains as hard as it has. You just wait and hope it quits raining, so you can get out on the track.”

Carl Edwards, who won the Michigan race in June, was equally antsy.

“We’ve been trying to kill time and just hoping the rain will go away so we can race,” said Edwards, who complained of cabin fever Sunday night and worked out at a nearby university in Adrian, Mich. “We’ve got such an awesome racecar this weekend, I can’t wait for the start of the race. It’s going to be good.”

The postponement complicates the lives of the Nextel Cup crews, especially with a Saturday night race at Bristol looming.

“It puts everything behind when you’ve got so many people here,” said Donnie Wingo, crew chief for Raybestos rookie-of-the-year points leader Juan Pablo Montoya. “We’ve got a lot of people here that’s normally back at the shop working.”