DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — NASCAR officials have announced that due to the coronavirus pandemic, the events this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway and next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway will be run without fans in attendance.
The events will be restricted to competitors, crews, officials and other necessary personnel to conduct the race.
NASCAR’s full statement is below:
“At this time, NASCAR will hold its race events at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway without fans in attendance. These events will be restricted to competitors, crews, officials and other necessary personnel to conduct the race. We will work with public health officials as we determine future scheduling beyond these events.”
“In sixty years of NASCAR history at Atlanta, this might be the most unusual circumstance we’ve ever encountered,” said Atlanta Motor Speedway Executive Vice President and General Manager Brandon Hutchison. “Our fans and their health and safety are always our top priority, and the decision to race without them was made after much discussion with NASCAR and consultation with our public health officials.”
Prior to NASCAR’s announcement, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez had announced that the NASCAR Cup Series race on March 22 had been postponed. However, he said in a statement that NASCAR could decide to run the race without fans. The sanctioning body has elected to take that route.
While NASCAR plans to move ahead with its events without fans in the stands, many major sanctioning bodies around the world have already announced postponements or cancellations due to the coronavirus pandemic.
MotoGP officials have already announced the cancellation or postponement of four races in Qatar, Thailand, the United States and Argentina. Formula E officials have also announced the postponement of events in Rome, Italy and Indonesia.
World Superbike has also announced the postponements of multiple events, with races in Spain and France already rescheduled for later in the year and an event in Qatar cancelled. Officials from Monster Energy AMA Supercross confirmed Wednesday that the Seattle, Wash., round of the series that was scheduled for March 28 has also been postponed.
The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series is also postponing events. The series event that was scheduled for Spain’s Circuit Ricardo Tormo on April 25-26 has been postponed until Oct. 31-Nov. 1.
The NTT IndyCar Series season opener, the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in Fla., is still scheduled to take place. However, general admission has been canceled for the event by event officials.
In the short-track world, World of Outlaws officials are monitoring the situation, but plan to continue with scheduled races.