Charlotte 600 gets tentative go-ahead from N.C. Governor

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | 13 hours ago

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper has approved NASCAR running the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 24 “unless heath conditions (worsen).”

Charlotte is one of a few tracks currently in consideration for hosting a NASCAR weekend when the sport resumes. Darlington on May 17 appears to be the sport’s target restarting date.

Fans will not attend any event for the foreseeable future.

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Gov. Cooper spoke about the Charlotte race during his Tuesday press briefing on COVID-19.

“We believe unless health conditions (worsen) that we can have the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend in Charlotte,” he said.

The Speedway’s Marcus Smith issued the following statement in response: “On behalf of our team at Charlotte Motor Speedway, I’d like to thank Gov. Cooper and all of our state and local government officials who are working with us to get NASCAR back on track with the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day Weekend where it belongs. We’ll have more details to share soon in conjunction with NASCAR’s release of a revised event schedule.”

That revised schedule could be announced as early as this week. NASCAR officials have been working with state health officials to earn approval on running races.

Additionally, N.C.-based race teams could be allowed back in their shops as soon as this week to begin preparing cars. Gov. Cooper announced last week that race shops could open and team members begin a return to work under the “essential business” definition in the state’s executive orders. Organizations will likely have limited personnel working in shifts.

A stay-at-home order for Mecklenburg County (N.C.) expires tomorrow, April 29, though Gov. Cooper issued a stay-at-home for the state through May 8.

Charlotte, Cup Series, NASCAR

 

That's right folks.....
In North Carolina Car Racing is an ESSENTIAL business!
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Is NASCAR really ready to go green again?

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emailBy Kelly Crandall | 15 hours ago

Suddenly, a lot seems to be happening in the NASCAR world.

Matt Kenseth is coming out of retirement. Ryan Newman is clear to climb back into his race car. And there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to hitting the X button on virtual racing and firing up a real engine once again. In the last few days, a bit of normalcy has started to creep back in. Just a little, however, because the sport is going to look different for the foreseeable future.

May 17 continues to be the target date for NASCAR to put cars on the track for the first time since early March, and Darlington Raceway remains the intended destination. But things continue to change daily, and NASCAR officials are continuing to work with state and local health officials before taking a huge step in letting the public know where races will be, which potentially could finally come later this week.

Darlington, Charlotte, and Bristol have been mentioned as the possible first few stops. But again, things change daily, and revised schedules are being written in pencil. By the time this column is written, submitted, edited, and published, a new plan might have been created.

Until something is officially announced, details around how the races will be run and who will be present at the track remain undisclosed. Things to chew on, though, include whether there will be multiple races at one track, shorter race distances, elimination of live pit stops, and limited track time before the race.

“I think going to a place like Darlington is going to be really tough,” said Alex Bowman after winning the iRacing event at Talladega Superspeedway over the weekend. “Probably (will) be a little rusty getting into Turn 1 if that was the first one (back). That would be a tough place.

“Hard to say when we really do go back or what the situation really does end up being, but I’ll try to do my best to be ready for whatever the situation is. Yeah, just trying to be as prepared as we can is a big part of it.”

What we know for sure is that fans will not be in attendance. Media, aside from the television and radio broadcast, likely won’t be either, and expect to see teams as spread out as possible, limited on personnel, and possibly being required to wear masks.

 

Thankfully, these are some of the things that work to NASCAR’s advantage in helping it become one of the first sports back up and running. Also consider that unlike other professional sports where person-to-person contact is involved, NASCAR’s stars are inside race cars and will only be running into sheet metal instead of someone else’s flesh.

It has become critical that NASCAR reopens in some form or fashion for the health of all its competitors. By reopening, NASCAR and its teams will begin to generate some much-needed income. With each passing day, things have gotten tougher for organizations and their employees, resulting in folks either being laid off, furloughed, or given pay cuts, while bonuses have gone away.

“We’re not racing, so we’re not getting charter money, we’re not getting TV money, we’re not getting ancillary money,” Mason St. Hilaire of Go Fas Racing told RACER last month.

Even if fans aren’t the stands, just by going back racing, money can begin to flow through the massive TV deal NASCAR has with Fox Sports and NBC Sports. Teams get a percentage of that deal: the Associated Press reported recently that it’s 25 percent.

NASCAR stands apart from other racing series in that regard. RACER’s Robin Miller recently explained how in IndyCar, viability for the tracks comes from the gate revenue, title sponsorship and other entities because, unlike NASCAR, they do not have television money.

So even without fans in the stands, NASCAR still has a reason to run races as soon as it can. Plus, sponsors will begin paying again, since their companies are back on track. Then there is the charter money for teams, which is the guaranteed revenue for race results.

Races will look different and feel different for months to come, but NASCAR is in a much better position than other motorsports to put on a race. Recent movement appears to suggest that NASCAR might have gotten closer to deciding where it can race, and now is finalizing how to go about doing so.