NASCAR has notified teams that an employee who was at Atlanta Motor Speedway has tested positive for coronavirus.
Multiple teams confirmed the notification to NBC Sports.
NASCAR had no comment, citing privacy laws.
In a note to teams, NASCAR stated that “we have been notified that a NASCAR employee who was present during the abbreviated Atlanta event” had tested positive for the coronavirus.
The note to teams also stated “that the individual is in process of receiving medical care and all employees potentially exposed have been directed to self-quarantine for the two weeks following that event through March 27 and will be monitored closely for symptoms. … As part of our standard operating procedure, Atlanta Motor Speedway officials have been notified. We are in the process of cleaning and sanitizing equipment in accordance with CDC recommended protocols.”
Atlanta was to have hosted Cup, Xfinity and Truck races March 14-15 before the events were postponed on March 13. NASCAR has postponed all its races through May 3 at Dover International Speedway.
There have been no previous reports of anyone in the NASCAR community contracting COVID-19.
There are 61,167 confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the Johns Hopkins University and Medicine coronavirus resource center. That total ranks third to China and Italy worldwide.
