NASCAR has explained its decision to move the start time of last Sunday's race at Pocono, with a timely green flag more vital than at most events.
A threat of rain in the area had sparked concerns that the race's 3pm ET start time wouldn't be enough to get the race finished, leading to an announcement on Saturday that the race would start two hours earlier than planned.
With the jump from northeastern Pennsylvania to San Diego for this weekend's race at Coronado Naval Base more logistically challenging than normal, NASCAR vice president of racing communications Mike Forde admitted that there was 'a lot of angst' about making sure teams and broadcasters didn't have to come back to the track on Monday morning.
Fortunately, the early race start worked exactly as planned – getting all 160 laps in, and avoiding the rain which arrived at the track just half an hour after the race ended.
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NASCAR: Everything worked out beautifully
Speaking on the Hauler Talk podcast this week, Forde explained: “With a 3 p.m. start time, you’re looking at maybe getting through Stage 2. The average time of the race is about three hours, so if we moved it up only an hour, we’re probably not going to get in all 160 laps.”
He added: “We really, really needed to get that race in on Sunday. There were a lot of things working against us if we had a rain situation. So I think everyone was pretty eager and had a lot of angst to get that race going by any means possible, and everyone worked together.
“I want to give a shoutout to Nick Igdalsky and Ben May, the CEO and president of Pocono Raceway. They probably had the most to lose by moving that race up.
"They had a sold-out crowd, a sold-out infield, and throwing that curveball to fans with a little more than 24 hours’ notice was a big ask, and they really were great partners. So everything worked out beautifully.”
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