The 67th running of NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 has been postponed to Memorial Day Monday after persistent rain across the Charlotte basin made Sunday's running of the longest race on the Cup calendar impossible. NASCAR will resume the schedule at 3pm ET with Tyler Reddick on the pole, the entry list otherwise unchanged.
The decision was confirmed by NASCAR around 6.20pm Sunday after the third weather delay of the evening rolled in from the southwest. The track, which had been targeting a 6pm green flag, never even managed to dry pre-race ceremonies before the call was made.
It is the third Coca-Cola 600 to be moved from its traditional Sunday-of-Memorial-Day-weekend slot in the past 25 years, and the first since 2020 — and it adds a layer of disappointment to a weekend already darkened by the death of two-time Cup champion Kyle Busch, who passed away on Wednesday at 41.
NASCAR confirmed that the in-race tribute laps for Busch, originally planned to occupy laps 8 and 51 — his career numbers — will now run on Monday afternoon, with Richard Childress Racing's No. 8 carrying a tribute livery driven by Austin Hill. Busch had been listed in the entry but was substituted out earlier in the week as his condition deteriorated.
The postponement was also a setback for IndyCar veteran Katherine Legge, who had been preparing for a brave attempt at the Memorial Day Double after racing in Sunday's Indianapolis 500. Legge's helicopter transfer plan from Indianapolis to Charlotte is no longer needed, but she will still drive the No. 78 LiveFast Motorsports Chevrolet on Monday after a recovery sleep that her Indy 500 schedule made impossible.
Denny Hamlin remains the betting favourite for the race after his million-dollar victory at the Dover All-Star race a week earlier. Hamlin, who has 56 career Cup wins but is yet to win a Coca-Cola 600 — the only crown jewel he has never landed — will start fifth alongside Bubba Wallace. Reddick leads from pole, with Ty Gibbs alongside on the front row after Joe Gibbs Racing absorbed Sunday's metric-set lineup.
The Monday start brings its own challenges. Drivers will have only minutes of inspection on Monday morning before they're rolled out for parade laps, with no warm-up session. NASCAR has also clarified that the four-stage 400-lap format will remain unchanged, despite some calls from teams to trim the race to 500 miles given the compressed scheduling.
Weather for Monday afternoon at Charlotte forecasts a 20% chance of isolated showers between 4pm and 7pm — meaning there is still a chance of a second delay. NBC, which streams the race on Peacock, has begun preparing the contingency of a partial Tuesday completion if the rain returns, but track president Greg Walter said the operations team is confident of completing the full 600 miles on Monday.
For the Cup Series, the Memorial Day Monday running gives the championship a rare midweek standalone slot on free-to-air sports television. Memorial Day Monday is one of the most-watched US television days of the year, and series officials privately conceded that a clean run on Monday could deliver Coca-Cola 600 ratings stronger than a wet Sunday would have produced.
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*Originally published on [Motorsports](https://motorsports.global/article/coca-cola-600-2026-postponed-memorial-day-monday-charlotte-rain). Visit for full coverage.*
