BY TEAM FORD RACING CORRESPONDENT

Brooklyn, Mich. — Sunday’s 3M Performance NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Michigan International Speedway was postponed by rain and rescheduled for noon Monday, when heavy rains are again expected. If it is rained out again on Monday, NASCAR officials said the race will be run Tuesday. From there on, it gets dicey, as there is a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race scheduled for Wednesday at Bristol Motor Speedway, while the NASCAR Busch Series teams will practice there on Thursday.

NASCAR announced Sunday that if the Michigan race can’t be completed this week, that it will be run on Thanksgiving weekend and become the final race of the season and the 10th and final race in the Chase for the Nextel Cup. That would make the Sept. 16 race at New Hampshire International Speedway the 26th and final race of NASCAR’s regular season, instead of the first race for the Chase.

“The Chase field is set based on completion of the first 26 events,” said NASCAR’s Ramsey Poston. “The Chase is comprised of the final 10 races of the season, so if this race were not to be able to be completed this week, it will be moved to that week of Thanksgiving and would then become the final race of the season,” Poston said.

That would mean that the Sept. 8 race at Loudon, N.H., now scheduled to be the first race in the Chase, would become the last race of NASCAR’s regular season and the first Chase race would be a week later in Dover, Del. It would also result in the traditional season-ending Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway being the ninth race of the Chase, instead of the season finale.

NASCAR officials have vowed to do everything possible to get the race in this week.