Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway postponed

Heavy rain continued to pour near the area of Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee where NASCAR's Food City Dirt Race was slated to be held this weekend.

Heavy rain continued to pour near the area of Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee where NASCAR's Food City Dirt Race was slated to be held this weekend. It was supposed to be the first Cup Series on a dirt surface in nearly 51 years, but the event will have to wait for at least another day, as it's been decided that the race will be rescheduled for Monday at 4 p.m. ET because of inclement weather.

NEWS: Today’s NASCAR Cup Series and Camping World Truck Series races have been postponed at @BMSupdates.

Schedule for Monday:
4 PM ET: Food City Dirt Race (FOX)
12 PM ET: Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt (FS1) pic.twitter.com/VR5Vu5EVMw

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 28, 2021

Here's a view of the Bristol Motor Speedway's vicinity just hours before the original schedule of the Food City Dirt Race, as provided by Daniel Baldwin.

I have NEVER seen the water this high before at @BMSupdates #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/gbTupU0B0i

— DannyBTalks (Daniel Baldwin) (@DannyBTalks) March 28, 2021

Baldwin is an avid NASCAR fan who regularly posts videos about racing on his YouTube channel. He has been to countless events since 2009 but claimed that he had never encountered this level of calamity near the area of the track on a race day.

“I’ve seen it flooded in that area before but never quite to the point where the entire area was inaccessible,” Baldwin told The Observer.

Heat races for both the Cup and Truck Series were already canceled on Saturday due to the pouring rain. Initially, trucks still attempted to push through with the heat races but the speedway's condition was still in bad shape at the start of the heat. NASCAR eventually red-flagged the qualifying event after one lap due to the developments of the situation.

According to the Herald Online, the National Weather Service already issued a flash flood warning on Sunday morning due to the heavy rain in Sullivan County located in northeast Tennessee. The warning extends through 11:30 a.m. and precipitation levels are expected to dwindle down by Sunday evening.

The 2021 Food City Dirt Race is the next race on the schedule of the NASCAR Cup Series after the event on Mar. 21 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, which was won by Ryan Blaney.