Talladega Cup Series playoff race postponed to Monday

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The NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12 playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway has been postponed due to inclement weather.

The YellaWood 500 will now take place Monday at 1 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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Rain hit the 2.66-mile Alabama track early Sunday morning and continued throughout the afternoon. Track-drying personnel had the superspeedway ready to race at 3:45 p.m. ET and pace laps began shortly after, but another heavy shower hit the track during that time, forcing NASCAR to postpone because it was not possible to run the full 188-lap distance.

“I always hate these days. I just want to get in and go,” said playoff contender Martin Truex Jr., who is scheduled to start sixth. “Still thinking about the same things as we were this morning and last night. … Hopefully stay at the front and get some stage points and hopefully be running at the end. That’s always the first goal.”

The race was originally scheduled for a green-flag time of 2:03 p.m. ET.

Denny Hamlin will start on the Busch Pole for Monday’s start. Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch will start alongside him on the front row. Hamlin is locked into the Round of 8 with his victory last Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“Let’s see what happens,” said Trackhouse’s Daniel Suarez, scheduled to start 18th. “Hopefully tomorrow, we can make it happen, but something is for sure — there’s going to be a lot of excited drivers tomorrow. So if today was going to be crazy, tomorrow is going to be crazier, so looking forward to it.”