COMMENTARY: While Imperfect, NASCAR's Return Plan Checks A Lot Of Boxes

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said yesterday that after consulting with NASCAR, track and state public health officials, he believes that  the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway can be run as scheduled on May 25, providing there are no fans in the grandstands and health conditions in the state continue to hold steady, or even improve. 

 North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore, who had urged the Governor to designate NASCAR an essential business, called the decision “an important step in bringing our economy back, bringing businesses back, and bringing exciting competitive events back to North Carolina."

As this column hits the Worldwide Web at 9 AM ET Wednesday, there has been no confirmation of NASCAR’s return to competition. But sometime today or tomorrow, NASCAR is expected to announce a schedule for returning to the track, beginning with a 400-mile event at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina on Sunday, May 17. That will be followed by an additional 310-mile race at Darlington the following Wednesday night, May 20. The next week will see back-to-back races at Charlotte Motor Speedway; the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, May 24 and another 310-mile event on Wednesday night, May 27. Additional races are expected to be run on Sunday, May 31 at Martinsville Speedway, Wednesday night, June 3 at Bristol, Sunday, June 7 at Atlanta and Sunday, June 14 at Homestead Miami Speedway.

There is a method to NASCAR’s madness when it comes to determining what tracks reopen first, and in what order. North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida have relaxed their guidelines to allow racing to take place, a step that not all states have yet been willing to take. 

Another concern is travel. Teams are not looking to put their personnel on airplanes at present, either commercial or charter. Hotels not not an option at present, either, leaving tracks within driving distance -- Charlotte, Darlington, Martinsville, Atlanta, Bristol and Homestead – to carry the load in the short term. 

NASCAR is also restarting its resurrected 2020 season with four consecutive races using the 550-hp, high-downforce aerodynamic package, allowing teams to use cars they had previously prepared for postponed events at Atlanta, Homestead and Texas. With NASCAR teams just now reopening their shops and getting back to work, rolling out short track, superspeedway or road course cars in the next 2-3 weeks would likely be a burden too heavy to bear.

When NASCAR does return to action, what will it looks like? 

Back to business at Darlington?

Expect strict limits on the number of team members allowed at the race track, for at least the foreseeable future. Social distancing and masks will be the order of the day, with personnel checked for fever every time they enter the race track. That’s not a 100% effective means of identifying people infected with the COVID-19 virus, since it is possible to have the virus and still be asymptomatic. But with no failsafe, quick test presently available to identify those with COVID-19, temperature checks are better than nothing at all.

Many -- if not all -- of the rescheduled races are expected to be single-day events, with practice reduced dramatically and qualifying based on either practice speeds or championship points. The idea is to open the garage in the morning, roll off the event in an expedient, efficient manner and send teams home that same night. 

On multi-event weekends, the Gander Truck and Xfinity Series garages are expected to follow a similar plan, opening only on race day. That reduces the total number of people on-site on any given day, reduces the risk of transmission, expedites testing and makes social distancing easier to accomplish.

The Wednesday night races will be shorter in distance – roughly 300 miles – compacting the program, making midweek racing more palatable for the television audience and ensuring that people can get off to bed at a reasonable hour, with their NASCAR fix satisfied. 

Live pit stops are unlikely to take place, with timed cautions allowing tire changes and basic pit service to be performed at a slower pace, before drivers return to the track in the same order they left. That allows teams to reduce their payroll and transport fewer team members to the track. 

It's not a perfect scenario, by any means. 

In a perfect world, we would prefer to return to competition in a “business as usual fashion,” complete with multi-day events, live pit stops and all the competitive whistles and bells we have come to expect from NASCAR. 

Unfortunately, this is far from a perfect world right now, and very few of us are conducting "business as usual."

In the short term – at least for the next two months – NASCAR will have to ease back into action, the first sport to do so. 

It’s not perfect, but it will do as a means to get back on track, get some revenue flowing to race teams severely in need of capital, and get racing back on television for an audience that has been severely affected by simultaneous outbreaks of COVID-19 and Cabin Fever.