Rain Forces Chicago NASCAR Race to Monday

Rain on Sunday forced NASCAR to postpone the opening race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.
NASCAR rescheduled the Chicago race for Monday at noon Eastern.

The forecast didn't look good from the start, but because the facility has lights, NASCAR waited all day for a window to dry the track. Officials got the window and had the track almost dry, but the sky opened again roughly six hours after the scheduled start.

"We appreciate the fans hanging in there with us and we know that rain presents an issue that nobody has much control over and it's uncomfortable," NASCAR president Mike Helton said earlier Sunday. "But I think it's in everybody's best interest to try to get it in and we've got time to wait and see."

Matt Kenseth will start from the pole at Chicagoland when the race goes off on Monday, and he said he didn't think the full day of rain would present many problems for drivers.

Hamlin Still With Work to do in NASCAR Finale

Denny Hamlin, who is ahead of reigning champion Jimmie Johnson by 15 points, is not concerned about being so far back in the 43-car field for the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Johnson qualified sixth for this race which will decide the 2010 championship.  Hamlin hada disappointing qualifying effort, he ended p in the 37th spot. 

He won this race in 2009 from one spot farther back.

The difference in having to catch the Lowe's #48 this year is that a Cup title is on the line. The reigning four-time champion, Johnson trails Hamlin by 15 points in the standings. Johnson will start Sunday's race 31 spots ahead of Hamlin and 22 positions in front of Kevin Harvick, the other championship contender.

Johnson, who's won the Homestead-Miami pole twice (2007, '09), clinched his second-best starting position (sixth) in the Chase races. He won the pole at Dover on Sept. 26, but in the eight other Chase events Johnson's average starting position was 17.5.

Four of Hamlin's eight victories this year were from a starting position of 14th or worse. His two victories at Texas on April 18 and Nov. 7 came from the 29th and 30th spots, respectively.

Including Sunday, Hamlin and Harvick will have started in the top 10 in just nine of 36 races. That's 15 fewer top 10 starts than Johnson. Last weekend in Phoenix, a notoriously difficult passing track, Hamlin started 17th and finished 12th.

"With the multi-groove track like Homestead … most guys prefer to run up high," Hamlin said. "I always seem to run lower here so I get a whole lot cleaner air than what guys do. Passing has not been as big of an issue at this track in the past as Phoenix has been for me. If I have half of the car that I had at Phoenix here this weekend, we should be OK."

We should see a close race Sunday afternoon, and the title could be decided a matter of inches.