NASCARs Weather Woes Follow Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Late Model Series as Rain Delays Race Weekend

Since the start of the 2024 season, the weather has been a major issue at the races. In the NASCAR Cup series, aside from Atlanta, from the Clash at the Coliseum to Daytona and Las Vegas, each track faced its share of weather hiccups. And guess what? Now, this weather drama has hit the late model race series owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr and Kevin Harvick. The latest scoop is that their season opener has been pushed back because of it.

A schedule revamp is the only way out now

Looks like the CARS Tour season kick-off is running into the same weather mess as the Daytona 500 did. The weather forecast is looking grim with rain on the horizon, so CARS Tour folks decided on Wednesday night to push the season opener at Southern National Motorsports Park to Saturday, March 10, instead.

But then, with a soggy Saturday in the cards, they’ve opted to shift the whole 125-lap Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Late Model Stock race to Sunday. The new plan is to have single-car qualifying first thing. The grandstands are set to swing open at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, with the qualifying heats firing up at 1:00 p.m., followed by the main event, the KevinSaysYes.com race, at 2:30. And just like every CARS Tour event, fans can catch the whole thing live on FloRacing.

This weekend’s got 30 teams revving up for practice this Friday, March 8, at the snug 4/10-mile track tucked away in Lucama, North Carolina. Throwing a curveball into the original schedule, race day’s going to skip the warm-up laps. But FloRacing’s got the fans covered with a live broadcast starting at 12:45 p.m. ET, ensuring they don’t miss any of the action.

Meanwhile, on the west coast, the zMAX CARS Tour Pro Late Model West Series was all set for its grand opening last Saturday. However, it seems Mother Nature wasn’t ready to cooperate there either. With some gnarly weather on the horizon for Saturday, March 2, the big night at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway got bumped to Saturday, March 16, 2024.

After huddling up with the Dale Earnhardt Jr’s series honchos and track bigwigs, they decided to postpone the inaugural bash. They wanted to make sure everyone from the fans to the drivers gets the top-notch race day experience they’re all about. “We held out as long as we could to make the call, hoping that the weather forecast would develop in everyone’s favor. Unfortunately, the latest forecasts have only reinforced the likelihood of rough weather and rain during opening night, which wouldn’t be acceptable for anyone—on track or in the grandstands,” implied Tim Huddleston with Kern Raceway and CARS Tour West.

But while the Late Model Stock Cars race got pushed back, the Pro Late Model division ended up with an unexpected champ taking the win.

An underdog picked his first career win with the series at the race’s end

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In a turn that felt like a scene from an underdog story, the end of the Pro Late Model race at Southern National Motorsports Park saw Kyle Campbell snagging his very first career win in the series. The race kicked off the third season for the Pro Late Models, which stepped in to replace the old Super Late Model Series before the 2022 season. For the second consecutive year, the season’s first race went down at Southern National, this time with way more cars on the track than the opener in 2023.

And what a race it was for Kyle Campbell. He came out swinging, securing a speedy qualifying lap that placed his family’s own #3 car just behind the leaders in 4th. When the race got going for the 100-lap main event, Campbell kept his cool among the top five, making sure his car stayed in tip-top shape for the final stretch.

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After a reboot at lap 35, Campbell found himself in second, holding steady through a lengthy stretch of green-flag racing. When it was all said and done, Campbell cruised past the finish line, a solid 1.8 seconds ahead of Jimmy Renfrew, bagging his very first win in the series.

But it wasn’t just any win. This was the first time Campbell had ever led a lap in this series, making the victory lap even sweeter for his family-run team. Meanwhile, fans of the Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Late Model Stock Cars and the zMAX CARS Tour Pro Late Model West Series will have to hang tight a bit longer before they get their racing fix.