In an email sent to teams on Wednesday morning and obtained by Autoweek, NASCAR signaled the return of racing for all four of its national touring divisions in May at Darlington Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“In a few moments, we will announce NASCAR will return to racing on Sunday, May 17, at Darlington Raceway. In addition, we will announce the following event dates and venues across all three national series and the ARCA Menards Series.”
Contrary to the email, NASCAR says it is not releasing a schedule on Wednesday. Instead, it is expected to come at 3 p.m. on Thursday.
These races would take place behind closed doors for a television audience due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Sunday, May 17 | Cup | Darlington
Tuesday, May 19 | Xfinity | Darlington
Wednesday, May 20 | Cup | Darlington
Saturday, May 23 | ARCA | Charlotte
Sunday, May 24 | Cup | Charlotte
Monday, May 25 | Xfinity | Charlotte
Tuesday, May 26 | Trucks | Charlotte
Wednesday, May 27 | Cup | Charlotte
The email continued:
“We are all very eager to see cars and trucks back on the track, but we also must recognize the substantial responsibility that comes with returning to competition. NASCAR will return in an environment that will ensure the safety of our competitors and those in the local community.
“Following a thorough collaboration with with public health officials, medical experts and state and federal officials, NASCAR has implemented a comprehensive plan to ensure the health and safety of our competitors and the surrounding communities.
“While we will only be announcing the return of NASCAR through the end of May, it continues to be our intention to reschedule all points races for all national series events. We hope to announce details on future events very soon.”
Autoweek previously obtained a copy of a provisional Cup Series schedule disseminated to teams this week that runs through June.
- Sunday, May 17 | Darlington 400
- Wednesday, May 20 | Darlington 310
- Sunday, May 24 | Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte
- Wednesday, May 27 | Charlotte 310
- Sunday, May 31 | Martinsville
- Wednesday, June 3 | Bristol
- Sunday, June 7 | Atlanta
- Sunday, June 14 | Miami
Television times and race formats were not revealed in the email and should come alongside the official announcement.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper approved the races at Charlotte during a media briefing on Tuesday afternoon.
“We believe, unless health conditions go down, that we can have the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend in Charlotte,” Cooper said during the briefing. “… I think that NASCAR will be making that announcement. We believe that’s what will happen.”
That message was met with a statement of approval from Speedway Motorsports president and CEO Marcus Smith, the track operator of Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“On behalf of our team at Charlotte Motor Speedway, I’d like to thank Governor 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,” Smith said. “We’ll have more details to share soon in conjunction with NASCAR’s release of a revised event schedule.”
