NASCAR: weather may result in earlier green flags

By AMANDA VINCENT

NASCAR has changed its stance on starting races early in attempts to beat inclement weather. According to a report from ESPN, the sanctioning body adopted a policy that will allow it to start races up to an hour earlier than scheduled, provided it is able to give fans 24 hours notice of the change.

“Any weather forecast in 24 hours, it’s hard to really so, so (we’d have to be) very convinced,” Speedway Motorsports Inc. CEO Marcus Smith said. “I’m just glad we haven’t had to worry about that this year.”

Previously, NASCAR would only start races minutes earlier than scheduled in consideration of pre-race activities planned by tracks and fans traveling to the race.

“We worked with the tracks to say what is the best way and the best notification,” NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell said.