With the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series taking the weekend off, the Nationwide Series has a rare opportunity to get all the attention on Sunday when the NAPA Auto Parts 200 is held at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
The road course, situated on a man-made island, has become a regular stop in the support series, and will have a strong contingent of Cup regulars.
That's a major draw for fans, of course, but another is that if it happens to rain, no problem --he guys are still most likely going to race.
As we've talked about before road course racing is a different animal than what you see on the ovals, but one advantage it has is that events aren't at the complete mercy of the weather.
Canadian Ron Fellows won the Montreal race in the rain last season, and if the wet stuff falls again Sunday, the teams and drivers will be ready for it. He says the Cup Series could run in the rain as well -- if that's what officials wanted.
"I think they can," Fellows said. "Horsepower aside, you've just got to learn how to manage it and keep it on the road. The difference is that NASCAR hasn't told the teams that's going to happen, but for about as long as I can remember they've told the Nationwide and truck teams that if it rains, be prepared for it.
"But it hasn't been a factor in Sprint Cup. Rain at Infineon is certainly rare, and this is the first time we've had it on a Sunday at Watkins Glen in about the 10 years I've been doing it."
Naturally drivers can't compete in a monsoon, and the Montreal track has a tendency to get waterlogged.
"As flat as it is, you get an incredible amount of standing water," Fellows said. "When you see that in sports car series that I've done in the past with Corvette, like at LeMans, when you get heavy standing water, out comes the pace car.
"Standing water is where you come into problems with the racecar. You hydroplane, completely out of control when you hit a puddle. There was a lot of standing water in a hurry on that particular track."
But the blowers came out and the race continued on the same day it started.
Would fans be willing to watch a Cup race in the rain? Fellows said the drivers wouldn't mind it.
"I think it's a matter of deciding if it's something (NASCAR Sprint Cup) wants to pursue," he said. "Obviously I'd love to see it. The road racing crowd is certainly prepared for it. We'll see."
Talladega or Daytona -- places with high banks and higher speeds -- aren't conducive to racing in the rain. Still, it could probably be done. Goodyear already has rain tires that are used in the Nationwide and Camping World series, so I see no reason why they couldn't be developed for the big league.
It would be even easier to manage at a short track like Bristol. It would just mean the standard bumping and grinding would be a little more pronounced.
And frankly a shower or two at Watkins Glen shouldn't matter at all.
Slap on some rain tires and windshield wipers and let 'em go.
NASCAR controls a lot of things but weather isn't one of them. Maybe it's time the sanctioning body adapted to it.
(Contact Scott Adamson of the Anderson Independent-Mail in Anderson, S.C., at adamsons(at)independentmail.com.)
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