Wild Weather Cancels NASCAR All-Star Heat Races

For the second year in a row, the NASCAR All-Star Race is being held at the historic North Wilkesboro Speedway, and while it looks like the main event may be safe, heat races were completely washed out in the most literal way imaginable thanks to some wild weather that struck the area on Saturday.

The original plan was for there to be Craftsman Truck Series and a pair of 60-lap heat races ahead of Sunday night's main event.

However, Mother Nature must not be a fan of stock car racing, because she made it impossible for the races to happen.

I know it doesn't take a whole lot of rain to bring things to a halt and bring out the jet dryers, but there aren't enough jet dryers in the world to get the track ready in time after the weather they saw on Saturday.

Look at this…

Allow me to post the GIF that I'm sure we were all thinking of when we saw that.

You're welcome.

But this wasn't just heavy rain, this was some persistent precipitation, and it made itself right at home around the track.

With the heat races scrapped the starting order for the All-Star Race will be set using the results from Saturday's qualifying session which is the backup procedure in the NASCAR rulebook.

This means that Joey Logano will start on pole with Brad Keselowski joining him on the front row. Christopher Bell will start third, thanks to his team winning the Pit Crew Challenge, and he'll be followed by Daniel Suarez and Chris Buescher to round out the top five. 

NASCAR's biggest stars will be lined up behind them (once the track is nice and dry) with one notable exception. Kyle Larson — last year's race-winner — is busy with Indianapolis 500 duties, forcing him to miss the All-Star Race. 

Fans won't be disappointed, though. NASCAR great Kevin Harvick will be behind the wheel of Larson's No. 5 Chevrolet.