NASCAR intends to hold full 36-race schedule despite Coronavirus

Other motorsport

Posted on

| Written by

NASCAR intends to hold its full, 36-round calendar despite increasing the number of races cancelled due to the Coronavirus to seven.

America’s most popular motorsport began its season with the Daytona 500 last month and has already held four races. Last weekend’s planned round in Atlanta was the first to be called off due to the Coronavirus.

The series said it intends to reschedule the race along with the Miami-Homestead round which wad cancelled along with it. On Monday NASCAR announced five further races which it intends to postpone after America’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called for an eight-week ban on public events.

“The health and safety of our fans, industry and the communities in which we race is our most important priority, so in accordance with recent CDC guidance, NASCAR is currently postponing all race events through May 3rd, with plans to return racing in Martinsville,” it said in a statement.

“We appreciate the patience of our fans and we look forward to returning to the racetrack. We intend to hold all 36 races this season, with future rescheduling soon to be determined as we continue to monitor this situation closely with public health officials and medical experts.

“What is important now transcends the world of sports and our focus is on everyone’s safety and well-being as we navigate this challenging time together.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2020 NASCAR calendar

RoundDateVenueStatus
117/02/2020Daytona
223/02/2020Las Vegas
301/03/2020California
408/03/2020Phoenix
515/03/2020AtlantaCalled off
622/03/2020HomesteadCalled off
729/03/2020TexasCalled off
805/04/2020BristolCalled off
919/04/2020RichmondCalled off
1026/04/2020TalladegaCalled off
1103/05/2020DoverCalled off
1209/05/2020Martinsville
1324/05/2020Charlotte
1431/05/2020Kansas
1507/06/2020Michigan
1614/06/2020Sonoma
1721/06/2020Chicago
1827/06/2020Pocono
1928/06/2020Pocono
2005/07/2020Indianapolis
2111/07/2020Kentucky
2219/07/2020Loudon
2309/08/2020Michigan
2416/08/2020Watkins Glen
2523/08/2020Dover
2629/08/2020Daytona
2706/09/2020Darlington
2812/09/2020Richmond
2919/09/2020Bristol
3027/09/2020Las Vegas
3104/10/2020Talladega
3211/10/2020Charlotte
3318/10/2020Kansas
3425/10/2020Texas
3501/11/2020Martinsville
3608/11/2020Phoenix

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Other motorsport

Browse all other motorsport articles

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

12 comments on “NASCAR intends to hold full 36-race schedule despite Coronavirus”

  1. When? How? And are they insane?
    I can only imagine more double headers on circuit that they race twice, even then, the season will go on to Christmas at least, if mit early next year!

  2. What I have readed and heard is Nascar anymore as popular as it was a decade or two ago? As a non american I hear more about Indycar or even Pikes Peak than Nascar.

    1. @qeki

      is Nascar anymore as popular as it was a decade or two ago?

      No.

      NASCAR has suffered a significantly large decline in both TV audience & circuit attendance over the past 10-15 years & many of the changes they have introduced to try & stop the decline has just increased in as many of the changes have come across as been gimmicky & contrived which has actually just turned people off rather than bring them back.

      Take the points/championship system as an example. It’s structured now to guarantee the championship goes down to the last race with the playoff style chase system built around creating drama in the title fight over the second part of the year. However it just feels fake & the longer the system has been in place & the more changes to it they have made the faker it’s started to feel.
      Same with things like the green white checker finish, It’s designed to guarantee an exciting finish under a green flag but often just causes more chaos with the ‘excitement’ feeling contrived & artificial.

      It’s something F1 should look at & learn from. Throwing artificial & gimmicky elements may ‘spice things up’ in the short term but over the long term fans will start to see through it.

      1. To add.

        In 2001 which was the first year of NASCAR on Fox the Daytona 500 did a 10.0 rating, A decade later it did a 7.0 & last year it was at a 5.3 which was a record low rating for that race.

        In the early 2000’s it was rare to see empty seats at NASCAR races. Now there having to apply tricks such as using different colors on the seats which when the crowd is big enough can help mask the number of empty seats when been viewed on TV.

        1. FWIW Daytona added the multi-colored seats in 2015

        2. @gt-racer you could also mention the fact that, at some venues, they decided to get around the sight of empty seats by simply removing the seats altogether (for example, Talladega has had 30,000 seats removed due to a lack of demand, or Michigan cutting 13,000 seats for the same reason).

          It’s not a unique trend to NASCAR – other circuits are reported to have removed seats as well, such as Daytona or Indianapolis – but it seems to have been far more prevalent at those venues which are more heavily reliant on NASCAR.

  3. Bruno Verrari
    17th March 2020, 9:54

    Good luck!
    In front of 10 spectators – assuming the field may gather..?!

  4. Does Budweiser have enough alcohol to kill Cornovirus?

  5. My first thought was “Oh dear. Maths.” (There are 34 weeks between the first still-scheduled race and the end of the year, NASCAR has 32 races still to run to hit schedule, and good luck trying to find anyone willing to practise on Christmas Day (the last Friday of the year).

    Then I thought that NASCAR might put two races on the same event (as they already do in Pocono), and considered how many of the upcoming venues have floodlights. Or the option of extending weekends out by a day…

    This is the one series that might make the scheduled number of races after all.

  6. NASCAR fan here they’re going to try everything in their power to make the number. Double headers for tracks with more than one date. Mid-week races for tracks with only one date. Possibly cancelling the All-Star Race. Running during the Olympic break whether or not the Olympics are held. Running well into December. Running races without fans. Everything is on the table.

  7. Mid-week races would be really cool. I wonder what will happen with the tv contracts though as Fox probably won’t be too happy if all their races are held in the second half and shown by NBC (even if that does save them the embarrassment of the low ratings). However, the more racing there is, the better.

Comments are closed.