The back-to-back postponements at Michigan are the first NASCAR has had to deal with in 10 years. When it happened the last time - at the spring race in Talladega in 1997 - it was pushed back two weeks and run on May 10. That year, the schedule was only 32 races long. There was wiggle room to take care of weather issues.
Sadly, NASCAR's last off week of this season happened last month after the race at Chicago on July 15. Any wiggle room that may have been available before is now gone.
You see, this is a short week for NASCAR leading into Saturday night's Sharpie 500 at Bristol. The Craftsman Truck series race, the O'Reilly 200, is scheduled for Wednesday night. Mark Martin and Kyle Busch have rides, but they're still tied up trying to get the race done at Michigan.
I saw a couple of additional facts pointed out in a NASCAR.com story that makes me pray extremely hard that the 3M Performance 400 won't have to be moved to Thanksgiving weekend. Two years ago, the speedway was buried in a blizzard on the holiday. And as if that weren't enough, the speedway grounds has hosted the state's high-school cross country championships on Thanksgiving weekend for the last 11 years.
If the rain keeps falling, no matter how light, NASCAR may find itself in a major pickle.
Remember 2001? That year, the September New Hampshire raced was pushed back to the last one of that season because of Sept. 11. It was the first season NASCAR ran a 36-race schedule, but no one seemed to mind then.
Now is an entirely different story.
Grab the paper, get a bowl of cereal and some toast at the ready, and pray hard we'll be racing on Tuesday. Coverage is set for an 8 a.m. start on ESPN2 (Baja Broadband cable channel 28 in St. George) - weather permitting.