CHARLOTTE, N.C. - NASCAR is preparing to be the first major sports organization in the United States to restart its season during the coronavirus pandemic.
For drivers and their fans, it will be a welcomed return to action when the green flag drops for a Cup Series race in two weeks at Darlington Raceway, the first of seven races in 11 days for NASCAR's three top-tier national circuits.
It will also be closely watched by the public and other professional sports leagues for missteps.
More than 700 people - no fans - are expected to be at Darlington when racing returns with a national television audience on Fox. While it will be NASCAR's moment to shine, a mistake could be a setback for other sports eager to get going and start earning revenue that has been on hold since mid-March in many cases.
"We realize up front it's a huge responsibility for us as a sport," NASCAR executive vice president Steve O'Donnell said. "We're certainly going to learn as we go, but the process we put in place, I think, gives the industry the confidence that we can be first."
South Carolina's Darlington Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, are the only tracks that will be used for the first seven races in the reshuffled schedule, a stretch that will not include spectators. Each will host two Cup Series races on a Sunday and a Wednesday (May 17 and 20 at Darlington, May 24 and 27 at Charlotte), as well as one second-tier Xfinity Series race (May 19 at Darlington and May 25 at Charlotte), while Charlotte will host a third-tier Truck Series race on May 26.
NASCAR worked with health professionals on a plan to meet federal guidelines and presented it to public health officials in the Carolinas, with suggestions returned to NASCAR. O'Donnell said NASCAR is returning to competition at venues located within driving distance of the Charlotte area, the major hub for race teams, to eliminate air travel and hotel use.
Team rosters are limited to 16 participants, which includes the driver, the spotter and the owner. NASCAR has recommended those who travel to the tracks do not also go back to work in the race shops, a potential challenge for low-budget teams that might not even have 16 full-time employees.
NASCAR's Cup Series runs 40-car fields, which would mean at least 640 participants entering the track for race day. That does not include officials, inspectors and members of the media, including the broadcast team.
For now, the days of working shoulder to shoulder in the 70-year-old Darlington garage with fans crowded outside the stalls are over.
"We're an outdoor sport, we do have drivers with helmets, we are in race cars," O'Donnell said. "There are some unique things about our sport that we did feel like provided us the opportunity to get back, if we could where we knew we were going to be safe."
AP photo by Mary Ann Chastain / NASCAR fans gets autographs from drivers before a Truck Series race on March 12, 2011, at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.NASCAR will not be testing for the new coronavirus, and a test won't be required to make the roster list to enter the facilities at either Darlington or Charlotte. Still, there are strong health guidelines in place:
- Teams are asked to monitor all employees who will be on their roster lists for five days before they arrive. They must also complete a questionnaire and will have their temperatures checked at the tracks. Cloth face masks will be required for everyone in the infield, and the entire facility will be used for spacing, which means one series will use all the garages and that motorhomes will be spread throughout the infield.
- Temperatures will be taken at random throughout the event. Symptomatic patients will be removed and given medical attention if needed. Exiting after a race will be staggered, with more random temperature checks. Teams are being asked to disinfect as needed, and haulers might be sealed to prevent them from being opened between shop and track.
- Each pit road crew member will wear either a fireproof sock mask that will go from the nose to below the chin or a face screen from above the eyes to below the chin. Spotters will be spaced around the speedways.
- NASCAR is asking teams and participants to contact trace and keep a log of people they have been in contact with. It will provide the ability to notify those needed to isolate for 14 days because they were in contact with someone who has tested positive. NASCAR said it was working on tracing software.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb has raised the possibility of allowing fans for the July 4-5 weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, when the famed track will host both NASCAR and IndyCar races. Social distancing guidelines would be in place.
"We can do it. We're prepared for fans, and we're prepared for without fans," Mark Miles, who oversees both IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, told The Associated Press. "Just based on the size of our facility, we can do it. And we've got time to figure it out. Things change on a daily basis, and where we are today may be different July Fourth weekend. We've got time to get this right."
For now, all eyes will be on Darlington. When drivers head to their cars, they will be required to wear face masks. The champagne spray for the winner in victory lane? Well, it's not entirely clear what sort of celebration will be appropriate in these strange times of sports.
What's certain is that it will be different.
"The way we travel to the event, the way we enter the event, move about in the event, the way we leave an event is going to be different," NASCAR vice president of racing operations John Bobo said. "Our two big things are social distancing, and the other is compartmentalization.
"We're going to have one-way walkways for people, our rules strictly enforced. If people aren't complying with our rules for masks and social distancing, they will be removed from the premises."
It will be strange times for a sport that became popular in part because fans can watch teams work, walk next to a driver in a pack of autograph seekers and even stand behind a pit stall as cars speed by on the track.
Other sports have soldiered on without fans, including bull riding and horse racing, and mixed martial arts promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship has events planned beginning May 9 in Florida. NASCAR, though, with its sprawling 36-race schedule from coast to coast and TV exposure, is drawing far more attention as it sets plans.
If NASCAR has any sort of setback, the ripple effect could harm IndyCar as it attempts to start its season June 6 at Texas Motor Speedway. Miles said the onus isn't only on NASCAR to get it right, but every aspect of the reopening must be safe.
"On any front, it's a setback to everything if things don't go well, and for us, we think (NASCAR returning) is a great learning opportunity," Miles said. "Anything we learn, they are going to know. Anything they learn, we are going to learn. It's a great opportunity for all of us to be smarter."
Bigger questions loom nearly every weekend for motorsports. For IndyCar, the Indianapolis 500 won't be run on Memorial Day weekend for the first time since since 1945, and no one knows if the usual 300,000-plus spectators will be allowed in August.
Racing mogul Roger Penske now owns IndyCar and is also owner of a prominent three-car NASCAR team. The 83-year-old Penske will have seen NASCAR run at least four elite Cup Series races before IndyCar is scheduled to return in Fort Worth.
"Mr. Penske obviously is now kind of in charge of what's happening," said 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi. "I think he'll implement the good things and kind of learn from the things that don't work (and) come up with a plan that is suitable for us."
AP photo by Terry Renna / NASCAR Cup Series driver Alex Bowman, left, congratulates Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron after their Daytona 500 qualifying runs on Feb. 10, 2019, at Daytona International Speedway.Real virtual success
William Byron showed he's the sharpest gamer in NASCAR with his third eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series victory in four events.
Byron passed Timmy Hill with seven laps remaining at virtual Dover International Speedway, where NASCAR was scheduled to actually race Sunday, to win yet again on the iRacing platform. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has consistently been the best of the NASCAR professionals in simulated racing.
Alex Bowman won a week before at virtual Talladega Superspeedway, so Hendrick drivers have now won four consecutive iRacing events.
"I've enjoyed this iRacing Series, but I'm definitely ready to get going in my real car," Byron said. "Racing anything, whether it's a box car or anything with an engine, is going to give you confidence if you are winning."
Hill finished second and was shown at times racing with his cat on his steering wheel.
Byron said that in all his years using iRacing, he has never been in such competitive events since NASCAR launched the invitational esports series after on-track activity was suspended March 13.
Denny Hamlin earned the pole in qualifying, but NASCAR successfully applied an invert - a glitch last week prevented the top 10 from flipping before the race began - so Ross Chastain cycled into the top starting spot.
Hamlin had his virtual Talladega race ruined when his daughter accidentally turned his simulator screen off with a remote control she was holding as he was competing. He made sure to hide all remotes before Sunday's race, but after contact with John Hunter Nemechek at virtual Dover, he seemed to be deliberately wrecked by Nemechek later in retaliation.
It brought out a late caution and a restart with nine laps remaining and Hill leading Byron at the green flag.
Byron didn't need to use a bump-and-run move - which is what Hill used on Byron to win the virtual race at Texas Motor Speedway - and easily passed him on the inside with seven laps remaining.
"William has done a great job through this iRacing invitational," Hill said. "I just wish I could get another win. I've had such tremendous support from everyone in the racing community through this This has been a blast and really brought us all together. We've really had a lot of fun racing all these races, but I can't wait to get back and see everyone's faces."
NASCAR will complete its iRacing Series next Saturday at a virtual North Wilkesboro Speedway, the North Carolina track last raced by the national series in 1996. Overgrown with weeds and clearly neglected, retired Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. last year led a group of volunteers in cleaning the speedway so it could be mapped for use in iRacing.
Although the simulated version of North Wilkesboro is not yet available to the public on the iRacing platform, it will be the virtual host for the pro series. Then it's back to the real thing at Darlington.