Phoenix race marks one year after covid shutdown

AVONDALE, Ariz. — The big story at Phoenix Raceway one year ago was the remarkable recovery of veteran driver Ryan Newman, who strolled around the infield sipping a soft drink just weeks after a horrific crash in the Daytona 500 had everyone fearing the worst.

It was an entertaining race on a beautiful Sunday afternoon with Joey Logano holding off Kevin Harvick for his second win of the season. Kyle Larson finished fourth, continuing his rise with Chip Ganassi Racing.

Then came covid-19, and everything in auto racing changed.

“Gosh, it doesn’t feel like a year ago,” driver Ryan Blaney said.

After 12 long months, it’ll be a much quieter scene for this year’s spring race in the desert, with a smaller crowd, masks, social distancing and everything else that’s been deemed necessary for sports to continue during a pandemic. It’s a compromise that’s become somewhat normal, even if it’s less than ideal.

“I miss a lot,” Logano said. “Obviously, the fans not being at the racetrack, the energy that they bring is second to none, so that quietness is awful. I like hearing the cheering, the booing and everything in between. I like that. I like having our sponsors at the racetrack and people walking through the garage thinking it’s the coolest thing they’ve ever seen when they see these cars up close.”

NASCAR’s season was paused for two months after Logano’s win at Phoenix. The sport was one of the first in the nation to return May 17 in Darlington, S.C., during a oneday event in front of no fans.

The slow march to normalcy continues in Phoenix.

“Hopefully, we’re making progress on this thing of getting the world healthy again, but it’s changed the way that our sport has operated,” Blaney said. “It’s changed the way everything has operated, from sports to businesses and things like that, and I’m looking forward to the day we can all get healthy again and put this all behind us and get back to normal life.”

Little did anyone know that Larson’s fourth-place finish in Phoenix would be his last race with Chip Ganassi Racing.

The driver’s use of a racial slur while participating in an online race in April cost him his job, his reputation and his ability to attract the corporations that fund a race team. Larson wasn’t sure he’d race in NASCAR again until Rick Hendrick took a chance on him.

Last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Larson raced to his first NASCAR victory since he was reinstated from a nearly yearlong suspension. He was hired by Hendrick Motorsports when NASCAR said the suspension would lift at the start of this year.

Bubba Wallace, NASCAR’s only Black full-time driver, was one of the first competitors to congratulate Larson.

“It meant a lot for Bubba to come to victory lane,” Larson said. “He’s always believed in me. That was special.”

(AP/John Raoux) Joey Logano said he misses having fans in the stands during races. “The energy that they bring is second to none, so that quietness is awful,” Logano said.