Story By: REID SPENCER / NASCAR – DAYTONA BEACH, FL – A hard rain at Charlotte Motor Speedway, described by FOX Sports broadcaster Mike Joy as “the party guest that will not leave,” forced postponement of Wednesday night’s Alsco Uniforms 500 NASCAR Cup Series race until Thursday.
The eighth Cup race of the season and the fourth since the hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic will be run Thursday night at 7 p.m. ET. FS1 will televise the event, with PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio providing radio coverage.
In addition, because of travel and setup challenges, Saturday’s scheduled Cheddar’s 300 presented by Alsco NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway has been moved to Monday, June 1 at 7 p.m. ET (FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron (pole) and Alex Bowman will start from the front row on Thursday based on an inversion of the top-20 finishers from Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. Coke 600 winner Brad Keselowski will take the green flag in the 20th spot.
Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch, who waged an intense battle in Tuesday night’s Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race—with Elliott winning and earning a $100,000 bounty for coronavirus relief—will start 19th and 17th, respectively, on Thursday.
Bowman won the first two stages of the Coke 600 and was leading the event at the length (500 kilometers) prescribed for the Alsco Uniforms 500. The race will be contested at 208 laps (312 miles), with stage breaks after 55 and 115 laps.