New normal for NASCAR drivers ‘going to be odd’
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Erik Jones tried to imagine what the moments leading up to the green flag at Darlington would be like.
“It’s going to be different,” said Jones, who drives the No. 20 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. “I mean, that’s the easiest way to put it.”
Jones described how he typically prepares on race day; He wakes up, does his mid-morning media appearances, attends a drivers meeting, eats lunch, then takes 20 minutes or so to relax before heading into a crowded arena for an afternoon race.
Today, Jones will alter his routine to align with the event protocols NASCAR has put in place in order to resume its season amid the coronavirus pandemic. There will be no fans in attendance and no qualifying session — drivers will touch the track for the first time since March 8.
“That’s going to be really unique,” Jones said. “Walking out to the grid and just hopping in the car.”
Jones, like all other drivers, has been instructed to drive to the track separated from his team and to remain in his motorhome until it’s time to race in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“What I envision most likely will happen is NASCAR will have us all on a mass text,” No. 11 driver Denny Hamlin said. “They’ll probably give us a text saying, ‘Drivers to your cars.’ The same way they communicate when they tell us we have a rain delay.”
“I think it’s going to be easier because there is nothing to sidetrack us on race day,” Hamlin continued. “It’s literally just going to race and race only. We don’t need all those extra people around like we normally would.”
NASCAR has issued COVID19 event protocol guidelines to teams, including mandating the use of personal protective equipment, practicing social distancing, logging interactions between team members at the track, monitoring individual health conditions and abiding by the roster limitations (team rosters are capped at 16 people). In a rules bulletin issued last week, NASCAR announced that teams in the Cup Series could be fined as much as $50,000 for violating those guidelines.
“We’re the organization that puts cars on the track four days a week at 200 miles an hour,” NASCAR vice president of racing operations John Bobo said. “We think it’s that same discipline and eye towards safety that everybody in our industry has that is going to help us execute on this.”
Since announcing its return schedule two weeks ago, NASCAR has also recommended that teams and drivers traveling to the track did not go to the race shop prior to Sunday in order to reduce the chance of infection. For larger teams, this is possible since there are multiple sets of crew members, some who travel and others who do not. For smaller teams, such as Go Fas Racing, which only employs 17 people, that’s a nearly impossible task. Still, no team has been allowed to run cars on the track since the season was postponed, so the first laps will be essentially a test for all teams.
“Big teams are gonna have to cut a lot more,” Go Fas general manager Mason St. Hilaire said. “They’re really gonna have to figure out who’s gonna go. We’re probably going to have to leave one, maybe two guys back here for each race.”