Drivers and crew members wait out a rain delay during the Daytona 500. The race was called because of the rain after Lap 152.

Weathering the elements

There’s no way to beat Mother Nature, but NASCAR can improve how it competes with her

Everyone jokes about race commentator Larry McReynolds’ fascination with The Weather Channel, but I think he’s onto something. NASCAR needs to hire an official forecaster because, obviously, no one in charge of the races can read a radar. That’s the only explanation I can come up with as to why NASCAR starts so many races at times guaranteed to produce rain-shortened finishes.

Things got off to a soggy start last year with Matt Kenseth winning a Daytona 500 called because of rain after only about three-fourths of the race had been run. I can only imagine what it was like in the stands, but I know all us TV viewers on social media sites and in Internet chat rooms were in the same place emotionally: We were flat-out angry.

The Sprint Cup’s longest race, the Coca-Cola 600, was delayed a day because of rain. And even when the drivers finally got onto the track on Monday instead of Sunday, it wasn’t pretty. More moisture forced a choppy race that ended when David Reutimann was declared the winner barely past the halfway point.