North Carolina governor believes NASCAR will race in Charlotte next month
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — On Tuesday, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said in a media briefing that NASCAR’s CocaCola 600 race is on track to run on May 24 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“We believe that unless the health conditions go down that we can have the CocaCola 600 on Memorial Day weekend in Charlotte,” Gov. Cooper said. “... I think that NASCAR will be making that announcement. We believe that’s what will happen.”
Gov. Cooper said his office has had conversations with NASCAR and speedway officials about the event, and that the sanctioning body submitted plans involving social distancing protocol for the track located in Concord. Gov. Cooper said that public health officials have reviewed those plans and approved them with some suggestions, although he did not specify what those suggestions were.
Earlier this month, NASCAR said racing would potentially return in May without fans in attendance. A tentative schedule sent to NASCAR teams this week has the season resuming on May 17 at Darlington Raceway followed by multiple Wednesday races in the southeast (all of those without fans), according to a report by Autoweek.
The Coca-Cola 600 would remain as originally scheduled on May 24 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, according to that tentative schedule. In addition, the Charlotte 310 would be run at CMS on May 27.
Charlotte Motor Speedway did not comment on the speculative schedule, and NASCAR maintained the statement it released April 17 in which it announced it was postponing events May 8-9 at Martinsville Speedway.
“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,” the statement from NASCAR said. “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.”