RICHMOND, Va. – Rain stopped NASCAR’s pivotal Saturday night race at Richmond, where the championship field is set when the checkered flag falls.

A steady shower soaked the track about 90 minutes before the scheduled start, and the delay prevented Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney from giving the command to start the engines. Romney was long gone when the race started almost two hours late.

Jeff Gordon, who started on the front row in his bid to grab the final slot in the 12-driver Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field, struggled from the start. He was unhappy with the setup on his Chevrolet, and as he dropped through the field, he radioed his team “I’m just hanging on” to the car.