NC Governor believes NASCAR will race the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte next month
On Tuesday, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said in a media briefing that NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 race is on track to run May 24 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“We believe that unless the health conditions go down that we can have the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend in Charlotte,” Gov. Cooper said. “... I think that NASCAR will be making that announcement. We believe that’s what will happen.”
Gov. Cooper said his office has had conversations with NASCAR and speedway officials about the event, and that the sanctioning body submitted plans involving social distancing protocol for the track located in Concord. He added that public health officials have reviewed those plans and approved them with some suggestions, although he did not specify what those suggestions were.
“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,” Speedway Motorsports President and CEO Marcus Smith said in a statement. “We’ll have more details to share soon in conjunction with NASCAR’s release of a revised event schedule.”
Earlier this month, NASCAR said racing would potentially return in May without fans in attendance. A tentative schedule sent to NASCAR teams this week has the season resuming on May 17 at Darlington Raceway, followed by multiple Wednesday races in the southeast (all of those without fans), according to a report by Autoweek.
The Coca-Cola 600 would remain as originally scheduled on May 24 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, according to that tentative schedule. In addition, the Charlotte 310 — a new race introduced to make up for postponed events — would be run at CMS on May 27.
Last week, seven North Carolina government officials, including state treasurer Dale Folwell and state speaker of the house Tim Moore, sent letters to Gov. Cooper asking him to modify his stay-at-home order to allow Charlotte Motor Speedway to host the Coca-Cola 600. Last Wednesday, Gov. Cooper extended his stay-at-home order by two weeks to May 8. He also announced that NASCAR teams could return to their North Carolina-based race shops as “essential workers” under state guidelines.
Teams still have to abide by the executive orders in place in their respective counties, however. On Tuesday, Mecklenburg County said it would loosen some of its restrictions and modify its stay-at-home order to align with the state’s. Mecklenburg county manager Dena Diorio said that Joe Gibbs Racing, the only racing team based in the county, would be allowed to return to its Huntersville shop to prepare for the Coca-Cola 600.
“A captivating event like the Coca-Cola 600 that is so central to North Carolina’s status as the home of motorsports in the United States is an excellent opportunity for our state to partially reopen safely and show the Tar Heel spirit will prevail even in a pandemic,” Speaker Moore said Tuesday.
NASCAR maintained the statement it released April 17 in which it announced it was postponing events on May 8-9 at Martinsville Speedway.
“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,” the statement from NASCAR said. “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.”
So far, NASCAR has completed four of its 36 points races, including the Daytona 500 and three races on its West Coast stretch: Las Vegas, Fontana and Phoenix. All NASCAR Cup Series races have remained postponed since March 13 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic forcing mass gatherings and professional sports to a halt.
Four of those postponed races make an appearance on the latest projected schedule: Martinsville (May 31), Bristol (June 3), Atlanta (June 7) and Miami (June 14). The raceway in Darlington, S.C., will likely host NASCAR’s return with two events in the same week — the Darlington 400 on Sunday, May 17 followed by the Darlington 310 on Wednesday, May 20, according to Autoweek’s report.
An updated schedule from NASCAR has not yet officially been released.
This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 11:42 AM with the headline "NC Governor believes NASCAR will race the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte next month."
