NASCAR's return filled with social distancing and controversy

Chris Hirons

May 25, 2020

DARLINGTON, S.C. - For 71 long and agonizing days, the engines didn’t roar, rubber didn’t burn off the tires and team garages were silent.

NASCAR halted its season on March 13, just two days after the NBA became the first American sport to suspend its season amid coronavirus concerns.

Stock-car racing made its long-awaited empathic return this week with a traditional Sunday afternoon race on May 16. And for the first time ever, drivers returned to the same track, just three days later.

As NASCAR held its first races since March, officials instituted many different —some awkward— social distancing measures that were originally unpopular with race fans, but understood by drivers and their teams.

If you’ve paid any sort of attention to NASCAR’s rule changes in the past, you know that most typically backfire as the sport tries to revive its declining interest. However, everything (so far) has seemed to go right.

NASCAR officials sacrificed some of the long standing traditions by scratching qualifying and practice sessions from the weekend schedule, and let every driver head into turn one on Sunday without any sort of practice.

With an average of more than 200,000 people at the racetrack on race day, NASCAR attempted and successfully limited the congregation of fans and crew members in the garage and the grandstands.

To limit the amount of people at the track, NASCAR barred fans from entry until June and reduced the number of crew members allowed.

Most teams typically bring around 22 crew members to the track each week. With the new limits, only 16 members are permitted to travel per team, including the driver, pit crew and crew chief.

Social distancing wasn’t all about just temperature checks and masks, as NASCAR convinced crew members to restrict their movement and forced drivers to leave their families at home.

NASCAR published a 34-page manual explaining every protocol when the sport announced its return. With the eyes of the sports world watching, the sport could not afford any missteps or gaffes.

Though a successful week, NASCAR isn’t celebrating just yet due to the possibility of an outbreak at the race track or team garage. However, it should be pointed out that NASCAR ultimately figured out a way to distance more than 900 people at Darlington Speedway, a track that is known for being ‘Too Tough To Tame.’

The egg-shaped racetrack is widely considered as the toughest track teams travel to each year. Wall scrapes are common and most drivers leave the South Carolina track with a botched paint scheme on the right side of their cars.

Drivers took their time getting around Darlington for the first few laps Sunday afternoon except for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The JTG Daugherty Racing driver wrecked his No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet on the first lap after making an aggressive, but unnecessary move.

By the time the competition caution was waved on lap 30 Sunday, drivers were already up to full speed.

The re-emergence of 48-year-old Matt Kenseth and his eighth place finish on Sunday became one of the biggest surprises and top storylines of the week. The 2003 Cup champion, who replaced Kyle Larson in the No. 42 car after Larson used a racial slur during an iRacing event, was behind the wheel of a Cup car for the first time since he retired after the 2018 season.

Expectations were raised for Kenseth on Wednesday but he was unable to build on Sunday’s momentum, finishing 30th after his right rear tire blew causing him to spin. In effect, the spin caused damage to the right side of the car and put him a lap down early in stage three.

Both races were shortened because drivers are set to race four races in a week-and-a-half’s time. Sunday’s race was shortened to 400-miles, while Wednesday’s race was 500-kilometers, or 310-miles.

As expected, the action was filled with the typical wall scrapes and spins as drivers had to navigate the high banking in the turns and tight straightaways of Darlington. The apron, which can be both slick and dusty, is used more there than at any of the other tracks on NASCAR’s schedule.

Kevin Harvick picked up career win No. 50 as he ran away with the race last Sunday. Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin, on scuffed tires, came away with a rain-shortened race win, on Wednesday — the third of his career at Darlington.

Clint Bowyer dominated the early parts of Wednesday’s race, winning both stage one and two, his first stage wins of the season before slamming into the outside wall towards the end of the race. Bowyer finished 22nd, a lap down.

On a more positive note, Bowyer set a career high in single season stage wins and picked up 20 extra points and two playoff points.

Multi-car pile-ups were hard to come by in both races but the action intensified with 27 laps to go during Wednesday night’s race.

Kyle Busch —who was running in third place at the time— turned Chase Elliott, causing his car to slam into the inside wall. Busch attempted to get back in line after he unsuccessfully tried to pass the second-place Elliott coming out of turn four.

Elliott’s night was, in effect, ruined as the Napa Auto Parts driver finished 38th after running in the top-10 for most of the night. To show his displeasure for Busch’s antics, Elliot flipped him the bird as Busch and the rest of the field followed the pace car around the track.

As the rain fell harder, NASCAR declared the race over with 20 laps to go.

Elliott, who was obviously upset with the controversial wreck, spoke to Busch after the race. Both drivers talked their differences out in a heated, expletive-filled conversation.

Busch, one of NASCAR’s most controversial figures, apologized to Elliott after the race and called his move a “mistake” and a “misjudgment.” Busch finished in second place behind Hamlin, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate.

NASCAR ran its longest race of the year Sunday night, the Coca-Cola 600, at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Brad Keselowski came away with the win after William Byron’s cut down tire and spin forced a caution with two laps to go and forced an overtime session.

Elliott led for most of the way down the stretch Sunday night, but elected to head to pit road before the restart. The move ultimately cost him the race when Keselowski and eight others chose to stay on the track. Elliott battled back to finish behind Jimmie Johnson, who was three-tenths of a second behind Keselowski. Johnson's Cup Series winless drought is now at 102 races.

To make matters worse for Johnson, his race car failed post-race inspection and was disqualified, placing him in last place. The announcement, to the surprise of many, came just over two hours after the race had ended. Johnson, the California native, dropped from 11th in the standings to 15th.

Before the green flag dropped, Hamlin’s luck from Wednesday ran out as ballast fell from his car causing him to come to pit road and repair the lost pieces. Ballast, a type of lead, is used to add weight to the car so that it can qualify for the minimum weight. If ballast were to come out at full speed, it could cause a serious accident or injury.

NASCAR clearly defines the lost ballast rule and will suspend Hamlin’s crew chief, car chief and head engineer for the next four races. To pass post-race inspection, Hamlin was forced to come down pit road to replace the lost weight, and was unable to return to the track under the leaders had already overlapped him eight times.

To the avail of racing fans, Charlotte Motor Speedway will be occupied by the roaring engines of the Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series for three straight days.

The Xfinity Series will take to the track tonight with the truck series following on tomorrow night. The Cup Series will run its fourth race in a week-and-a-half with a 500 kilometer race on Wednesday night.

If no virus breakouts occur, NASCAR plans to continue its run of 19 races until June 21 spanning its three national series.