NASCAR race weather: How long will rain in Charlotte forecast delay Wednesday's Cup race?

Here we go again. NASCAR implemented a solid strategy for its return to live racing amid the coronavirus pandemic with four Cup Series races scheduled in the span of 11 days, but weather forecasts have not been cooperative. Now Wednesday night's race at Charlotte Motor Speedwayis in danger of a rain delay.

Mother Nature — or, more specifically in this case, tropical storm Bertha — appears to care not for midweek NASCAR racing at Charlotte.

NASCAR AT CHARLOTTE:
Odds to win | Starting lineup | TV schedule

Tropical storm Bertha was named Wednesday morning as it neared the South Carolina coast. Most projections show the storm heading northwest, right over Charlotte Motor Speedway, throughout Wednesday and into Thursday.

This obviously is not a good development for NASCAR, which would plan to start the race at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday should it get rained out Wednesday night.

Below is what we know about the weather forecast NASCAR will monitor as the8 p.m. ET start time for Wednesday night's race approaches.

NASCAR race weather forecast for Charlotte

8:15 p.m. ET: The race has been delayed until Thursday.

7:50 p.m. ET: Rain is still coming down.

---

According to the weather.com forecast for the Concord, N.C., area (the suburban location of the speedway), there is a 75percent chance of rain at 8 p.m. ET, when Wednesday night's Cup Series race is scheduled to start. There is a 100 percent chance of precipitation as late as 7 p.m. ET.

Though the percentages drop, rain showers are expected to persist as the evening approaches midnight. Beyond the forecast, another issue for NASCAR will be the combination of moderate temperatures and high humidity. Track drying will take longer under these circumstances.

The Concord area is under a flash flood watch through 2 a.m. ET on Thursday.

Brian Neudorff, a meteorologist who unofficially provides weather forecasts for NASCAR races, wasoptimistic about the race as of Wednesday morning.

"It is very possible this system clears out of (Charlotte Motor Speedway) by 8pmthis evening," Neudorff tweeted Wednesday morning. He later added that the race likely will not start on time.

Wednesday night's race, scheduled to take the green flag at 8:25 p.m. ET, is a relatively short event thatfeatures stage lengths of 55, 60 and 93 laps (310.6miles). In this case, it needs only to reach the halfway point at Lap 104 to become official.

The starting lineup for Wednesday night'sracewas set upon the conclusion of Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at the same track. The order for the top 20 startersis an inversion of the top 20 finishers from the 600 with the exception of Jimmie Johnson, who failed post-race inspection and was disqualified from his second-place finish.

Because of Johnson's disqualification from Sunday's results, his HMS teammate, William Byron, received credit for a 20th-place finish rather than a 21st-place finish. That means Byron will start on the pole for Wednesday night's race. Another HMS driver, Alex Bowman, will join Byron on the front rowthanks to his 20th-place finish Sunday.