News Director 
Column By: DERICK KRINER / RPW – GRANTVILLE, PA – As a race fan, we all know the unspeakable four-letter word in reference to precipitation.
It not only can cancel a perfectly good race, but it can also have implications on track and series points championships.
We probably tend to focus on races run, and not the ones marred by bad weather, but have you ever thought about how rainouts can shape a championship?
Even though the 2023 season is in its’ early stages, a prime example would be in the NOS Energy Drink World of Outlaws series. The series made a schedule change that would have brought the tour to Pennsylvania for a four-race swing, making a fourth trip to the Keystone state, a pivotal part of the ’23 points chase.
Port Royal and Williams Grove have not been great tracks for many on the Outlaw tour, and having the March 10th, 11th, and 17th shows axed due to weather, might have been a blessing for some teams.
Drivers that struggled at Port and the Grove in the past got to escape the possibility of poor finishes. When the Outlaws race in PA, points can really shake up, due to the increased car counts and the ability of PA cars to compete and often beat The Greatest Show on Dirt.
We also see this when the tour heads west to California, a state that also seems to see high numbers of cars and rainouts. So, eliminating the potential to go and run at the back and have that one series driver that runs well at a particular track, finish 15-20 spots better than you, is taking their advantage away.
Will this be a benefit in the end? Time will tell, but for some, it seems like it will be.
Postponements can also have interesting consequences on a championship battle. We tend to see more rainouts during the early season and some events are moved to a different time of the year. While this may seem minuscule, this can take away parts of a team’s notebook on a track.
A traveling series tends to run a similar schedule every year, hitting tracks at nearly the same time of the year, meaning weather is semi-predictable. With a postponed event, the track and atmospheric conditions might completely change. A crew chief has to make adjustments to compensate for this, and sometimes, a team isn’t always at their same performance level when this happens.
This gives others a chance to attack and take advantage of an off night for a team.
A final point to consider when thinking about Mother Nature’s role, is how it can benefit teams that do not have the same funding as the front runners in a track or series points battle. We see this play out a little more in a track championship than a series championship, just because the budget it takes to run on a national scale, is met by most traveling teams and that’s why they are on tour.
At a local track, one team might plan to run in the bottom half of the top 10 in points, due to budget and equipment needs. Let’s say even 15% of the track’s race rainout. That team that is running in the lower half of the top 10 in points has more available time and budget to potentially go to more shows and also keep their car running at a better level of performance.
While this may not lead to a track title, it can lead to an increased championship payout at the end of the season by gaining a few extra spots.
Teams that don’t plan to run a full season with a touring series sometimes see this happen as well. For example, Buddy Kofoid, heading out of the PA swing was sitting fifth in World of Outlaws series points, trailing David Gravel by just 48 points.
Now, the CMS 11 team is not planning on following the tour full-time. However, this could, in some cases, tip the hand of some owners to keep their car on tour longer in an attempt to see if they can stay up near the front in the championship hunt.
So, rainouts we see can not only affect those on tour, but those off it, in a positive or a negative way. Most teams however would probably want to race as much as possible, and win the championship by being better than everyone else, for all the races to be contested.
Anyway, that’s enough talk about r**n, so here’s to clear skies and racecars!
