NASCAR postpones another race and pushes back the restart of its season
NASCAR announced Friday it’s postponing race weekend events at Martinsville Speedway originally scheduled for May 8-9.
“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,” NASCAR said in a statement. “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.”
The announcement followed a stay-at-home order issued in Virginia through June 10 to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
NASCAR had previously postponed all events through May 3, which included seven race weekends at Atlanta, Homestead-Miami, Texas, Bristol, Richmond, Talladega and Dover. In March, NASCAR president Steve Phelps said the sanctioning body planned to run all of its Cup Series points races and the non-points All-Star race this season, even if that meant scheduling weekend doubleheaders or adding Wednesday night races.
“For us, we have a commitment to our fans that we’re going to run all the races,” Phelps said in March. “We have a commitment to all our competitors that we run all the races. We have a commitment to the stakeholders broadly that we’re going to run all the races.”
This story was originally published April 17, 2020 at 1:35 PM.
