By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
Lightning strikes and persistent rain forced postponement of Sunday’s GEICO 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway until Monday afternoon.
The 13th race of 2020—marking the halfway point of the Cup Series’ regular season—has been rescheduled for 3 p.m. ET Monday, to be broadcast on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
By the luck of the draw, Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch will lead the field to green from the top three spots on the grid. Hamlin leads the series with three victories in the first 12 races of the season.
At 2.66 miles, Talladega is NASCAR’s longest oval track. When a second rain cell hit the speedway in the late afternoon, NASCAR called the race. Because Talladega does not have lights for night racing, the event would not have reached completion before dark.
Chevrolet driver Chase Elliott is the defending winner, but Fords have won eight of the last nine Cup events at the track.
