Mother Nature always seems to have a plan in action, and if you don’t respect it, you often pay a lethal price. That sentiment rang loud and clear at Pocono Raceway this past weekend as rain, thunder, and lightning rolled through Pennsylvania, delaying the NASCAR Cup Series race by nearly two and a half hours.
For many fans, it was just another inconvenience caused by the weather delay. But from one insider who was in the thick of it with his family, it triggered something deeper. But what started as a long wait in the car quickly turned into a moment of reflection, one that exposed the uncomfortable truth about how fans overlook the real danger at the track.
NASCAR insider reflects on the hidden danger fans overlook
In a recent episode of Rubbin’ Is Racing, Large Barstool gives fans an unfiltered look into what it was really like at Pocono this weekend and why, for once, he was grateful for the delay. What began as a standard Sunday at the track quickly turned into something much heavier. Large had made the trip with his 15-year-old daughter and, as he cheekily added, 18-year-old wife. Despite leaving early from northern New Jersey, the typical one-hour and 20-minute drive ballooned into 2 1/2 hours, thanks to Pocono’s infamous bottleneck Road.
The family arrived early, credentials in hand, ready to soak in the race atmosphere. But instead, they were stopped at the gates and told to return to their car and take shelter. He went on to say, “But once we got there—and again, we got there very early because I had a bunch of things, I was going to see people down in the hauler or something—we get there, my wife and daughter have their credentials (shoutout Pocono, by the way, for giving us all this kind of access), but they say, ‘Nobody’s coming in. Take shelter in your car.’”
The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway experienced a lengthy rain and lightning delay, pushing the start back roughly 2 and a half hours from its planned 2:20 pm ET green flag. With no lights to contend with and sunset looming around 8:40 pm ET, NASCAR officials worked swiftly to dry the track, eventually waving the green flag at approximately 4:31 pm.
Large didn’t think too much of it at first, even brushing it off as a typical pre-race chaos. His daughter, though, wasn’t so sure, especially when she noticed the lightning. He recalled the tiresome wait, saying, “And there was lightning going on. So we’re probably—before we were let in—there was lightning going on, and so we were probably in our car for another two hours, two and a half hours-ish before we were let in.”
They sat there for 2+ hours, stuck in their car, waiting for the all clear. NASCAR eventually skipped the drivers’ meeting to buy time and get the track dried.
Then came the moment of realization. Large recalled how officials insisted on keeping fans in their vehicles, and at first, it felt like overkill until he remembered what happened at Pocono in 2012. “People say it’s very good that they had people shelter in place or whatever in their cars, because back in 2012, somebody had got struck by lightning and d— at Pocono. So they say if you do let people in these giant metal features, they won’t leave—even if you tell them there’s lightning in the area. People’ll be like, ‘That’ll never happen to me,’ so they won’t be out in their car or some sort of shelter.”
That person was 41-year-old Brian Zimmerman. A tragic precedent: On August 5, 2012, spectator Brian Zimmerman was k—– by lightning in the Pocono parking lot after race officials had paused the event. Nine others were injured. Track alerts, via tweets and PA announcements, urged the fans to seek shelter, but loud race day crowds drowned them out. Jury documents revealed Pocono Raceway was found negligent, though not legally liable for causation, while NASCAR was cleared.
Following that tragedy, Alison ACCUS—FIA motorsport safety guidelines were strengthened. Any lightning attraction within an 8-mile radius triggers immediate spectator clearance, event suspension, and a 30-minute suspension clock. Drivers such as Jeff Gordon, who raced that day, insisted on hearing “a crack” while on pit road before the strike.
What hit Large the hardest was the detail that the person had been in almost the same place he had his family was told to shelter. He also admitted that he did not share the incident with his daughter, but it’s stuck with him. He goes on to say, “So there’s a lot of s— that people don’t take into consideration when they’re being put out for a couple hours due to inclement weather and all that kind of stuff. But I’m very, very happy that we got that—I’m still alive.”
Large’s comments offer a rare, candid view from someone who is both a fan and a media site. In a sport where delays are often met with eye rolls and complaints, Barstool’s experience served as a stark reminder that sometimes the inconvenience is the safest call of all. However, on the brighter side, Large’s co-host had something interesting to say about the Prime broadcast.
Mixed reaction to Prime Video’s Pocono coverage
Later on in the podcast, Spider chimed in with his take on Amazon Prime’s performance and wasn’t entirely sold. “I thought that it did a good job. I mean, I will probably not rank it a 50; I disagree with the results of the poll (Jeff Gluck on X). However, I do think this was probably one of the harder assignments that Prime had,” suggesting that the broadcast received harsher criticism than deserved.
He wasn’t wrong about the circumstances. Prime Video’s five-race stint began with the Coca-Cola 600 in late May, and it’s easily the strongest showing, with 2.7 million viewers. Mexico City and Nashville also delivered over 2 million each. But Michigan and Pocono slipped down the mark; Pocono, in particular, was hit hard by weather delays, pushing back the start and dragging out the runtime.
Despite this bit, Prime’s average viewership across its five-race deal was set at 2.1 million, right on par with traditional cable broadcasts two years ago (2,180,000). And perhaps more importantly for NASCAR, Prime helped bring in a younger demographic, with the median age of viewers across its races dropping to 56.8. Not every race can be a spectacle, and in a year when TV partners are being watched closely, Pocono may not have helped Prime’s case, but it did not tank it either.
The post Insider Defends NASCAR’s Pocono Delay With Stark Reminder: “There’s a Lot… People Don’t Take Into Consideration” appeared first on EssentiallySports.
