Rain has postponed the Cup race at Dover Motor Speedway. The race is scheduled to resume 12 p.m. ET Monday. The race will air on FS1. Motor Racing Network also will broadcast the race.

The wunderground.com forecast for Monday calls fro partly cloudy skies, a high of 67 degrees and a 3% chance of rain for the resumption of the race.

Sunday's race was stopped after 78 of 400 laps by rain. Kyle Larson leads and is followed by Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr. and William Byron.

Cars were sent to pit road and the race was stopped at 3:59 p.m. ET.

Denny Hamlin led 55 laps. He is eighth after pitting during the caution for rain. He was the first car off pit road that stopped. The top seven cars did not pit before the race was stopped. All 36 cars that started remain in the race.

The Cup garage will open at 9:30 a.m. ET. Grandstands open at 11 a.m.

The National Motorsports Appeals Panel upheld the penalties issued to Cole Custer and his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing team for attempting to help teammate Chase Briscoe at the end of the Charlotte Roval playoff race.

NASCAR fined Custer $100,000 and docked him 50 points. Crew chief Mike Shiplett was indefinitely suspended and fined $100,000. Stewart-Haas Racing was penalized 50 owner points for the No. 41 car.

The team can appeal Thursday's decision to the National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer. The team has not stated if it will do so.

At issue was Custer dramatically slowing on the backstretch of the final lap as Briscoe battled for position behind him.

During the last lap, Shiplett told Custer on the team's radio: "I think we've got a flat tire. Slow up. I think we've got a flat tire. Check up. Check up."

Briscoe was listed in the final transfer spot via a tiebreaker over Kyle Larson  on the final lap while battling Austin Dillon  and Erik Jones  for position. As they headed down the backstretch, Dillon, Briscoe and Jones came upon Custer's car, which slowed and impeded Dillon.

Briscoe went to the inside and shot by Dillon and Custer on the backstretch chicane. Briscoe beat Larson by two points for the final transfer spot to the Round of 8.

Scott Miller, NASCAR senior vice president of competition, said earlier this month that the comments by Shiplett proved that Custer's action on the backstretch was deliberate.

"The data was pretty telling, and then we got to the audio and had the crew chief telling the driver that 'I think you've got a flat, check up, check up, check up' when he couldn't even see the car or have any idea whatsoever that the car might have a flat," Miller said. "Pretty telling as to what went on there. That coupled with the data and the video … nothing contradicted that that was done deliberately by those individuals. We were forced to react."

NASCAR cited Custer and his team for violating Section 5.5 of the Cup Rule Book and failing to race at 100% of their ability "with the goal of achieving the best possible finishing position in the Event."

That section also states that "Any Competitor(s) who takes action with the intent to Artificially Alter the finishing positions of the Event or encourages, persuades or induces others to Artificially Alter the finishing positions of the Event shall be subject to a penalty from NASCAR. … "Artificially Alter" shall be defined as actions by any Competitor(s) that show or suggest that the Competitor(s) did not race at 100% of their ability for the purpose of changing finishing positions in the Event, in NASCAR's sole discretion."

The National Motorsports Appeals Panel stated that Custer and his team violated the rule set forth in the penalty notice and that the panel upheld the penalty issued by NASCAR.

The panel consisted of Dixon Johnston, Bill Mullis and Dale Pinilis.

Toyota will partner TRICON Garage, formerly David Gilliland Racing, in the NASCAR Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series, beginning in 2023. The partnership replaces Toyota's relationship with Kyle Busch Motorsports, which is moving to Chevrolet in 2023.

"Toyota is pleased to rejoin TRICON with this expanded partnership," said David Wilson, president, Toyota Racing Development. "We are excited for this new opportunity for our Toyota development drivers and partners to experience TRICON's success and winning culture. The Truck Series is very important to Toyota, and we know TRICON is going to continue to deliver for us as we begin our 20th season in the series."

Corey Heim will run for his first Truck series title and drive the No. 11 for the team next season. Tanner Gray will continue to compete in the No. 15. Taylor Gray will begin his championship run in the Truck Series starting in March at Circuit of the Americas when he turns 18. He will drive the No. 17. The team will field a fourth truck, the No. 1 truck, that will feature several drivers throughout the season.

This is a return to Toyota for the organization formerly known as David Gilliland Racing. DGR-Crosley fielded Toyotas in 2018 and '19. Tyler Ankrum won the ARCA Menards Series East championship for the team and gave the team its first Truck win in 2019 at Kentucky Speedway.

"We are thrilled to return to Toyota and compete in the new Toyota Tundra TRD Pro next season," said TRICON Partner David Gilliland. "I've seen Toyota's dedication to the sport firsthand, and we are excited to partner with them going forward. I'm sure this new partnership is going to help TRICON reach our goals of consistently competing for race wins and championships."

"Our goal in the truck series is to create future racing icons," said TRICON Partner Johnny Gray.  "We'll know we did our job when several years from now our drivers are racing for Cup championships. As for Garage, what we do is more than just field a race team. We build chassis, we build bodies. We have a transportation company. We are marketers and content creators. We are teachers and mentors. It's bigger than simply 'motorsports' or 'racing.' But what it all has in common is that it takes place in our garage. So, TRICON Garage just seemed to encompass what we're all about."

TRD official partners JBL, Mobil 1, Safelite AutoGlass and SiriusXM will join TRICON Garage and their existing partners to sponsor various Tundras throughout the season. Toyota and TRD, who clinched its 13th Truck Series manufacturer title at Homestead-Miami Speedway last weekend, will also continue to provide manufacturer support to Halmar Friesen Racing, Hattori Racing Enterprises and ThorSport Racing in the NASCAR Truck Series.

The No. 1 truck drivers, full partner and crew chief line-up, complete ARCA Menards Series season plans along with the driver who will fill in for Taylor Gray at Daytona, Atlanta and Las Vegas will be announced at a later date.

Xfinity Series driver Josh Williams, Sherry Pollex and Jes Ferreira have been selected as the finalists for the 2022 Comcast Community Champion of the Year Award.

The award was created to recognize philanthropic efforts of individuals within the NASCAR industry.

The 2022 Comcast Community Champion of the Year will be selected by a panel of Comcast and NASCAR executives, as well as Curtis Francois, Owner of World Wide Technology Raceway, who received the award in 2021 for his work with The Raceway Gives Foundation, which focuses on STEM education and diversity.

Comcast will award $60,000 to the champion's affiliated charity, and $30,000 to each of the two remaining finalists' selected charities. The 2022 Comcast Community Champion will be announced at a reception during NASCAR Champions Week.

Comcast's Xfinity brand entered NASCAR as entitlement partner of the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2015 and is now also Premier Partner of the NASCAR Cup Series. Since then, the company has donated $840,000 to more than 21 different NASCAR-affiliated organizations to honor their efforts and to help further the impact of their worthy causes. Fans can visit ComcastCommunityChampion.com to learn more about past and present finalists and their acts of selflessness.

2022 Comcast Community Champion of the Year finalists:

Josh Williams — Many would argue that despite his NASCAR resume, Josh Williams – driver of the #92 DGM Racing car for the Xfinity Series – has even more impressive accomplishments off the track. Throughout his career, Josh has dedicated his time by visiting over 150 hospitals in person and, recently, even more via Zoom during the pandemic. Through these visits, he's had the opportunity to meet with countless children, as well as their families, to show his support.

As an extension of these visits, Josh enlisted the help of OhmniLabs to use their Telepresence robots, which provide the opportunity for some of these children to virtually experience at-track garage tours right from their hospital beds. Josh's efforts have also formed a relationship with the Ryan Seacrest Foundation, which builds closed circuit TV and radio studios in children's hospitals throughout the country to increase experiences for patients who can't make the trip out to the track.

To show his support for these children to the world, Josh collects a painted handprint of each child that he visits. For his last race of each NASCAR season, his race car is wrapped with a composite image of each of those children's handprints, honoring them and the work of children's hospitals around the world.

Sherry Pollex — After being diagnosed with stage 3c ovarian cancer, Sherry Pollex knew she wanted to help others who would one day be blind-sided by this terrible disease.

In 2016, Sherry launched SherryStrong.org; a website created to empower women to know their bodies and recognize the symptoms of ovarian cancer with a focus on healthy living through holistic and integrative medicine. However, the launch of Sherry Strong wasn't the start of Sherry's community outreach efforts, rather a continuation of them.

Sherry Strong serves as an arm of the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization she developed with her longtime partner, Martin in 2007. The foundation was originally formed to help children with cancer. When Sherry received her diagnosis, the mission of the foundation was then refocused to raise awareness, boost advocacy, and generate financial support for underfunded cancer initiatives specific to childhood and ovarian cancers; two of the most prevalent and underfunded diseases affecting children and women in America today.

Through SherryStrong.org, social media channels, and appearances across the country, Sherry has spent years educating women about choices they have for their bodies, integrative and holistic medicine, self-care practices such as yoga, acupuncture, exercise, meditation, supplements and more. Sherry inspires women daily to find joy amidst the trials of life and to not let illness steal their gratitude or peace. Sherry educates women about the symptoms of ovarian cancer and how to advocate for themselves continuously until answers are found.

Jes Ferreira  — Among all the turmoil of the pandemic, CSM Production's Senior Director of Live Shows, Jes Ferreira looked for an opportunity to give back. Despite her heavy workload, she decided to take on an even heavier challenge, becoming a foster parent to two young girls, ages 5 and 8.

Jes originally earned a foster license to become a foster parent for one child but, a few months later, the child's younger sibling needed a new foster home. Although Jes already had a crazy work schedule which included traveling to the race track most weekends on top of fostering one child as a single parent, she knew without a doubt these two siblings deserved to be together while in foster care. Now two young siblings who are going through the most trying time in their lives have been reunited thanks to Jes' unselfishness and big heart.

On any given day, there are nearly 424,000 children in foster care in the United States. In 2019, over 672,000 children spent time in U.S. foster care. On average, children remain in state care for over a year and a half, and five percent of children in foster care have languished there for five or more years. Now Jes has given two of those nearly half a million children a safe home as well as new experiences that will help shape their lives for the better.

Jes's affiliated charity is Foster Village Charlotte, an organization that allows foster parents to connect with and support each other. FVC collaborates with 16 private foster parent licensing agencies, local government, child welfare organizations and the community to serve families holistically and represent the foster family voice to Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services (DSS).

It's nail-biting time for people who predicted the NASCAR Cup Series would reach 20 different winners this year.

The 2022 season tied the record for most distinct winners after Chris Buescher became the 19th winner at Bristol. But how likely is it that a new driver gets his first win of the season in the last two races?

How many drivers win their first race in the season's last 10 races?

Let's consider seasons from 2001 to the present. I picked 2001 because that's when 36 races per season became the norm.

In the plot below, I represent the number of distinct winners after the first 26 races of each year — what we now call the regular season — in green. New winners in the last 10 races of each year are shown in gray. The red numbers at the top are the totals for each season. Even before 2001, the series never reached 20 different winners.

A stacked vertical bar chart comparing the number of distinct winners after 26 races to the number after 36 races

The most recent season with 19 different winners was 2001. Although there were no playoffs then, 15 different drivers won during the first 26 races. Drivers notching their first wins of the season took four of the last 10 races.

That tells us that it's possible to have four new winners in the last 10 races of a season. It happened in 2013 as well. Seasons like 2014 and 2016, however, had zero new winners in the playoffs.

The average number of new winners in the final 10 races is 1.9 over the last 21 years. We're already over the average with three this year.

But the 2022 season has bucked more trends than it has followed.

Records already broken

The 2022 playoffs are already unlike any other playoffs since the format began in 2014. The next graph details who typically wins the last 10 playoff races.

A stacked bar chart showing the status of drivers who won playoff races, 2014-2022

Let's start with the simplest year: 2016. The solid green tells you that all 10 playoff races were won by a driver still eligible for the championship at the time of the win.

The bars for 2018 and 2019 are also all green, but with two hatched races. Eight races in each of those years were won by drivers still in the hunt for the championship. Two drivers who had qualified for the playoffs on points won their first races of the season in each of those years.

In total, seven drivers pointed into the playoffs and then won their first race of the season during the playoffs. That hasn't happened this year, but only one driver made the playoffs on points.

Yellow bars represent drivers who made the playoffs, but had been eliminated when they won. That happened to Alex Bowman last year, along with two drivers each in 2014, 2015 and this year.

Hatches on yellow are for drivers who won their first race of the season after they'd been eliminated from the playoffs. That was Kyle Busch in 2020 and Matt Kenseth in 2017.

I reserved red for drivers who didn't make the playoffs but won a playoff race. No red appears until 2021 when Bubba Wallace won Talladega. That was both his first win of the season and his first career win.

Drivers not in the playoffs at the time of their win have won more playoff races in 2022 than any other year. Three drivers got their first race wins of the season in the playoffs this year.

Even if playoff drivers win the last two races, they will have won only 50% of the playoff races, the lowest percentage in playoff history. If non-playoff drivers win the next two races, playoff drivers will have claimed only 30%.

Running out of time

Only two races remain in the 2022 season. So how many of these new winners in the last 10 races won the last or second-to-last race?

Here's the same type of graph, with blue bars representing the number of winners in the first 34 races of each season. The seven gray bars show years in which a new winner won the last or second-to-last race of the season. About one-third of the seasons featured a new winner in the last two races.

A stacked vertical bar chart comparing the number of distinct winners after 34 races to the number after 36 races

In 2001 and 2013, winless drivers took the checkered flag at the final race of the year. Robby Gordon accomplished that feat in 2001 and Denny Hamlin in 2013. But both years were before the current playoff system started.

That leaves five drivers who got their first win of the season in the second-to-last race of the year. Those five seasons are 2003, '10, '11, '12 and — importantly — '17. Importantly because 2017 is the only season in this sample using the current playoff system. Matt Kenseth won the second-to-last race that year.

Getting to 20 different winners

Here's the catch: Who's left to win? Ryan Blaney is the only driver who made it into the playoffs on points. He has the fourth best average finish (14.3) and the fourth best qualifying average (10.5). He did win the All-Star Race this year. To secure the record and his place in the championship four, Blaney must minimize mistakes, avoid fading at race end, and focus on getting good restarts.

It looked like Martin Truex Jr. might get his first win of the year at Homestead last week. Then a combination of sun in his eyes and Kyle Larson on his tail sent him for a spin on pit road. And that's hardly the only bit of bad luck he's had this year.

Truex's season stats don't engender much optimism. Although he has the second-highest number of fastest laps, he is seventh in average running position, sixth in laps led and eighth in average finish. His average qualifying is only 15.0 (tied for 15th), which doesn't bode well for a track like Martinsville.

Between a new team and a new car, Brad Keselowski has an average finish of 18.3. Keselowski has improved over the season, but so have his competitors.

Aric Almirola has a better average finish than teammate and playoff driver Chase Briscoe by 0.1 positions. But his average finish at Martinsville is only 20.3.

Overall, Blaney seems the best bet for the Cup Series to reach 20 different winners in 2022.