Rain postpones Xfinity Series race at Chicagoland to Sunday

Jun 21, 2015 - 2:31 AM Joliet, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Severe thunderstorms at Chicagoland Speedway forced NASCAR officials to postpone Saturday night's Owens Corning AttiCat 300 Xfinity Series race until the following day.

The 300-mile event at this 1.5-mile track has been rescheduled for Sunday at Noon ET (11 a.m. CT). It will be televised on Fox Sports 2.

Rain began to fall heavily here just before 8 p.m. CT (local time). There was lightning in the area, which prompted Chicagoland Speedway officials to clear race fans from the grandstands. It stopped about 30 minutes later, as track drying efforts began. But more thunderstorms to the west of this track were heading in this direction. The race had been scheduled to start around 8:40 p.m.

Austin Dillon will lead the 40-car field to the green flag. Dillon, a Sprint Cup Series regular, claimed the pole with a qualifying lap at 176.569 mph. Qualifying was held in the late afternoon. Sprint Cup is off this weekend before heading to Sonoma, California for the first road-course race of the season next week.

Ross Kenseth will start alongside Dillon. Kenseth, the son of 2003 NASCAR Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth, is making his Xfinity debut, driving the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.

According to the National Weather Service, there is a 10 percent chance of rain in the Joliet area during the early morning hours of Sunday and then changing to mostly sunny skies later in the day.