NASCAR’s return tour has taken it to Talladega Superspeedway, and it will be anything but an average weekend at the Alabama track already known for moments of chaos during races.
For starters, new rules concerning aerodynamics are in place for the 2.66-mile tri-oval after Ryan Newman’s frightful crash at the end of the Daytona 500 in February at the circuit’s only other superspeedway.
Talladega, which was hosting ARCA Menards and NASCAR Xfinity Series races Saturday without fans in the stands, will admit up to 5,000 for Sunday’s Cup Series race, which is at 3 p.m. EDT and will be televised by Fox. That’s a small number by typical Talladega standards, but a significant step amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Last Sunday’s event at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida became NASCAR’s first with on-site spectators since the series returned from a two-month shutdown, but that crowd was limited to no more than 1,000, with most of them service members and their families. The increase will occur with at least two NASCAR teams dealing with positive tests for the virus and NASCAR on the lookout for the Confederate flag after recently banning it.
Finally, Denny Hamlin – coming off a win last weekend – and Corey LaJoie are in a bizarre feud that started on social media and escalated until NASCAR intervened by summoning both drivers to a face-to-face meeting at Homestead. And Joey Logano, wrecked last month by Chase Elliott as the two raced for the win at Bristol Motor Speedway, has made it abundantly clear he won’t ever give Elliott an inch of room on the track.