NASCAR to restart racing on May 17 at Darlington
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NASCAR announced Thursday that racing will restart on May 17 at Darlington Raceway with a NASCAR Cup Series event that will take place without fans in attendance.
The race will be the first of seven events over an 11-day span at two different race tracks.
| DATE | SERIES | VENUE | START |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 17 | Cup Series | Darlington Raceway | 3:30 p.m. ET |
| May 19 | Xfinity Series | Darlington Raceway | 8 p.m. ET |
| May 20 | Cup Series | Darlington Raceway | 7:30 p.m. ET |
| May 24 | Cup Series | Charlotte Motor Speedway | 6 p.m. ET |
| May 25 | Xfinity Series | Charlotte Motor Speedway | 7:30 p.m. ET |
| May 26 | Gander Trucks | Charlotte Motor Speedway | 8 p.m. ET |
| May 27 | Cup Series | Charlotte Motor Speedway | 8 p.m. ET |
"NASCAR and its teams are eager and excited to return to racing, and have great respect for the responsibility that comes with a return to competition," NASCAR executive vice president Steve O'Donnell said. "NASCAR will return in an environment that will ensure the safety of our competitors, officials, and all those in the local community.
"We thank local, state, and federal officials and medical experts, as well as everyone in the industry, for the unprecedented support in our return to racing, and we look forward to joining our passionate fans in watching cars return to the track."
There will be no practice sessions for any event and qualifying will only occur for the Coca-Cola 600, which is set to take place on May 24.
It’s nearly impossible to create a perfect schedule, but @NASCAR worked hard & has done a great job to make racing happen again. Things will look different when we return but the changes are necessary for the safety of everyone who makes our races successful, especially our fans.
— Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) April 30, 2020
NASCAR has been on hiatus for over two months due to the coronavirus pandemic.