NASCAR: Bristol race postponed as rain hits

Round 23 of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup series at Bristol has been postponed after heavy rain cut short the race inside 50 laps.

Kyle Busch will start the restarted race on Sunday from pole as he was leading the field by the time of the stoppage on lap 48 of the scheduled 500. Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin will start in second and third, respectively, while original polesitter Carl Edwards will get away from seventh.

Rain had initially delayed the race by an hour. Hamlin immediately stole the lead from Edwards by the end of the opening lap once proceedings got under way. Elliott then found his way past the Joe Gibbs Racing man on lap nine, before Busch swept in front just prior to the yellow flag being thrown for rainfall on lap 32. That became a red flag stoppage by lap 38 amid heavy precipitation, and a delay of two hours followed.

Another downpour ruined an attempt by organizers to restart, and when it did finally resume it was only for 10 laps before the weather intervened again.

With so much of the distance left to run, NASCAR decided to postpone the race until Sunday afternoon. It will restart at 1 p.m. local time.

Originally on Autosport.com