CHARLOTTE, N.C. - NASCAR has postponed the Cup Series race scheduled for May 9 at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, which is under a stay-at-home order into June due to the coronavirus pandemic.
NASCAR joined what is now a nearly total shutdown of sports worldwide when it suspended its 2020 season in mid-March, having completed a combined 10 races across its three national circuits - four each for the top-tier Cup Series and second-tier Xfinity Series plus two for the Truck Series.
NASCAR had listed Martinsville, the track known as "The Paperclip" that is a little longer than a half-mile and is the shortest on the Cup Series schedule, as its site to resume racing but acknowledged Friday it will not be able to hold the event as planned.
"Our intention remains to run all 36 races with a potential return to racing without fans in attendance in May at a date and location to be determined," a NASCAR release stated. "The health and safety of our competitors, employees, fans and the communities in which we run continues to be our top priority. We will continue to consult with health experts and local, state and federal officials as we assess future scheduling options."
The next Cup Series event on the schedule is the All-Star event on May 16 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. However, NASCAR has privately given teams a revised schedule that calls for some weeknight races and series doubleheaders through the summer, with competition returning via its longest race of the year - the Cup Series' Coca-Cola 600 at CMS on May 24, the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.
That day is typically one of the most exciting and longest of the racing year, with Formula One's Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 preceding NASCAR's marathon. However, F1 has canceled the Monaco GP this year and the Indy 500 has been rescheduled for Aug. 23, with those series also dealing with major alterations to schedules considerably shorter than NASCAR.
In addition to Martinsville, Cup Series races have been postponed at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Richmond Raceway, Talladega Superspeedway and Dover International Speedway. All of those tracks except Martinsville and Richmond also had Xfinity Series races scheduled, and all except Bristol, Martinsville and Talladega also had Truck Series races scheduled.