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.