Roush Fenway Racing Pokes Fun at SpaceX 'Rain Delay'

SpaceX nearly made history on Wednesday by sending two astronauts into space so they could join the International Space Station crew. However, potential weather issues delayed the launch until Saturday. Roush Fenway Racing, the team behind NASCAR driver Ryan Newman, used the delay as an opportunity to poke fun at SpaceX.

"See, it's not just NASCAR that always gets rain delays!" Roush Fenway Racing tweeted on Wednesday afternoon. Professional racing has dealt with multiple rain delays during the 2020 Cup Series season. This statistic includes two in the past three events. There are concerns about Wednesday's Alsco Uniforms 500 and a potential delay, which led to pleas among racing fans for the weather to cooperate.

"We are not going to launch today."

Due to the weather conditions, the launch is scrubbing. Our next opportunity will be Saturday, May 30 at 3:22pm ET. Live #LaunchAmerica coverage will begin at 11am ET. pic.twitter.com/c7R1AmLLYh

— NASA (@NASA) May 27, 2020

Following a 10-week delay in action, NASCAR returned with two Cup Series events at Darlington Raceway. The Real Heroes 400 took place on time, but the Toyota 500 started later than expected due to rain in South Carolina. NASCAR delayed Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 due to rain at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The 600-mile race started 90 minutes late and did not finish until after midnight.

Heading toward Wednesday's race, fans expressed even more concern about another potential rain delay. The National Weather Service called for an 80-percent chance of rain during the day but only 50 percent at night. The Alsco Uniforms 500 had a start time of 8 p.m. ET, and many fans did not expect the track to be dry in time. Many expressed the opinion that the green flag would wave at least 60 minutes later than expected.

If the weather did not cooperate, would NASCAR simply wait for the skies to clear and hold a race later at night? Would they follow the example set by SpaceX and simply delay until another day? Fans didn't know the answer, but they awaited every update as the hours passed on Wednesday afternoon.

While Wednesday's race could still take place, the SpaceX launch did not. The historic event has a potential launch time of 3:22 p.m. ET on Saturday afternoon. The first step in NASA's new phase to end their reliance on Russian spacecraft will take place later than expected, but many interested parties believe it will still happen.