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NASCAR to run Atlanta, Homestead without spectators
NASCAR will run races over the next two weekends without fans in attendance because of the ongoing concern over the coronavirus outbreak.
“At this time, NASCAR will hold its race events at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway without fans in attendance,” a NASCAR statement read. “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.”
Officials made the announcement Thursday afternoon before weekend action for all three NASCAR national series begins at Atlanta. All three series will also run at Homestead on March 20-22, but fans will not be attendance for either race weekend.
There have been 31 confirmed and presumptive cases of the coronavirus in Georgia with one death.
Miami-Dade County (Homestead, Florida) Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez released a statement Thursday morning saying the county is under a state of emergency. Gimenez declared that NASCAR racing was postponed unless officials chose to run the race without fans.
Meanwhile, the Joe Gibbs Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing and Leavine Family Racing teams also announced they have closed their race shops to the public for safety reasons due to the coronavirus threat.
Kelly Crandall
Kelly has been on the NASCAR beat full-time since 2013, and joined RACER as chief NASCAR writer in 2017. Her work has also appeared in NASCAR.com, the NASCAR Illustrated magazine, and NBC Sports. A corporate communications graduate from Central Penn College, Crandall is a two-time George Cunningham Writer of the Year recipient from the National Motorsports Press Association.
Read Kelly Crandall's articles
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