RICHMOND, Va. -- More than five inches of snow forced postponement of a weekend of NASCAR stock car racing at Richmond International Raceway, a spokesman said Friday.
The Pontiac Excitement 400 NASCAR Winston Cup race, scheduled for Sunday, has been rescheduled for March 26th -- the first Easter Sunday NASCAR race in recent memory.
The Pontiac Excitement 200 NASCAR Busch Grand National race, scheduled for Feb. 25, was also postponed, but no makeup date has been set.
There would not have been a problem clearing the three-quarter-mile banked oval for racing, according to a speedway spokesman, but it would have been impossible to have all of the parking areas cleared.
'We just wouldn't have been able to get the people in here,' said Kenneth Campbell, public relations director for Richmond International Raceway.
'It obviously wasn't just the racing surface we were concerned with. The fans and the ability to park them all were a primary concern.'
In addition to the snowfall Thursday night and Friday morning, heavy rains earlier in the week further complicated matters for track officials.
'Even if the snow had melted it wouldn't have helped things. With all the rain we had Wednesday, the parking lots would have been a sea of mud,' said Campbell.
Time trials for the rescheduled Pontiac Excitement 400 will be March 25 at 2 p.m. The race will take the green flag on March 26 at 1:15.
Campbell said any tickets purchased for the Feb. 26 race will be honored on the rescheduled date.
Time trials for the Winston Cup race were never held. Richmond native Tommy Ellis won the pole for the Grand National race, but he'll lose that pole because drivers will requalify once the race is rescheduled.
