Cup Series drivers reflect on how COVID-19 changed NASCAR
By Bob Pockrass
FOX Sports NASCAR Writer
The last time NASCAR Cup Series drivers competed at Phoenix Raceway, some had started taking precautions for COVID-19.
Some were using their own pens for autographs, rather than pens given to them by fans. There was more hand sanitizer around.
Beyond that, it was pretty much a normal race weekend. It was the last "normal" race weekend as they knew it.
"This virus, we always talk about how it’s changed our sport, but it’s changed everyone’s lives no matter what they do around the world," Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney said. "Hopefully, we can get the vaccine sorted out and people start to get healthy again just to get back to something normal.
"People just miss seeing everybody and all that stuff. ... [I] miss the whole crowds and meeting people in the infield and just being able to go out to eat and not have to worry about getting sick or getting someone else sick."
With today, March 11, the date the NBA shut down, NASCAR also celebrates an anniversary of sorts this week, as March 13 was the day NASCAR canceled the Atlanta and Homestead weekends. That marked the start of the postponement of racing for two months because of the pandemic.
"I always remember Atlanta when I was down at the race track and the world ended for a little bit," 2018 Cup champion Joey Logano said. "[It] was just a crazy, crazy time.
"I’m ready for it to be over."
NASCAR was one of the first major sports to resume competition, as on May 17, it held a race at Darlington.
"For me, the thing that sticks out the most is actually driving to Darlington and wondering whether I should be on the road or not, if I was going to get in trouble for driving and being on the road, if I was actually going to work, not going to work," said Kevin Harvick, who won that race at Darlington, which was followed by another race at Darlington three days later.
"Should I drive home? Not drive home? Can I stay in my motorhome? Can I not stay in the motorhome? Should I bring my helmet to the car? You had so many questions about what to do and what not to do that it was just a really strange time."
NASCAR eventually completed a full, 36-race regular-season schedule, including the final 11 races as scheduled.
Although it had to move four races from their original locations (Sonoma, Watkins Glen and Chicagoland lost their Cup events, and Richmond lost one of its two), it added two races at Darlington, one at Charlotte and one on the Daytona road course.
NASCAR implemented a one-day race procedure that did away with practice and qualifying except for the Memorial Day race at Charlotte, which had qualifying. It planned to have two Cup races in one weekend at Pocono but added "doubleheader" weekends to the schedules at Dover and Michigan. It conducted three midweek events – at Darlington, Charlotte and Martinsville – between weekend events to catch up on its schedule.
NASCAR opted not to test, as it was initially concerned about the availability of tests and because it thought it could keep teams compartmentalized at the track and let drivers have their own versions of personal protective equipment with fire suits and helmets.
NASCAR also didn’t require participants to be in a bubble but significantly limited the people allowed in the garage. Gone were sponsor representatives, extra crew members, driver family members and even team owners.
NASCAR tested only if it thought someone might've had close contact with someone who had COVID-19.
Two Cup drivers – Jimmie Johnson and Austin Dillon – missed races after positive tests they sought on their own – an asymptomatic Johnson because his wife tested positive and Dillon because he began experiencing symptoms. There were times when crews had to be replaced for a trip because of protocol.
But the sport kept going, without a widespread outbreak — at least, not one that could be noticeable without testing.
"When you step back from it, COVID will have forever changed our sport in many different areas," Harvick said. "We’ve realized a lot of inefficiencies we’ve had as a sport, from how many people we take to the track to how we function to how many days we need to be at the track."
Getting back to the track so quickly was paramount in NASCAR because NASCAR, the tracks and the teams did not collect significant television rights revenue unless they raced and held the events. That income makes up more than a quarter of the revenue for most teams and more than 50% of the revenue for race tracks.
Austin Cindric might not have won the Xfinity Series title if NASCAR had not returned to racing so quickly. His team owner, Roger Penske, thought about shutting down the Xfinity program because it did not have the sponsorship needed to keep people employed for a lengthy period of time.
"We all kind of knew in the back of our minds that there were some challenges for us to continue the year if we didn’t get races early on," Cindric said. "So I give a ton of credit to NASCAR. ... That was a huge catalyst for me to be able to continue the year last year and my team to be able to show what we were capable of, so I’m pretty grateful for those efforts.
"I know it probably helped a lot of other people out, too, but definitely a big deal for us."
Many of the protocols in 2021 remain the same, though for the Daytona 500, the number of people allowed in the garage more than doubled, as extra crew members were needed for practice and qualifying, and manufacturers were allowed to return to the garage, along with owners and a social media or public relations person for each team.
Most tracks have had fans at 20-30% capacity for races this year, and that likely will continue for the near future, though tracks in Virginia, California, Delaware and Michigan still await reopening capacities and/or approvals for their events. NASCAR’s next challenge will come in deciding whether to increase fan attendance as more people get vaccinated.
The garage "bubble" could remain for several months, and policies such as mask wearing and social distancing also are likely. As a sport requiring travel to different states every week, NASCAR will be cognizant of whether loosening protocols in a state with fewer restrictions would impact its ability to hold an event in another state.
"I don’t think anyone would have expected it to be a year long and that we’d be sitting here wearing masks still and getting through all this," Logano said. "It’s surprising, for sure.
"We’ve figured out a way to do it, just like everyone else in the world at this point. Everyone has figured out a way to go back to work and keep their business going and our industries going, and that’s what we’ve been able to do."
NASCAR, which will have eight Cup events with practice and qualifying this year, expects practice and qualifying to return for most races next year as NASCAR debuts a new car, which originally was scheduled to debut this season.
But whether that means three days at the race track remains to be seen. If the schedule dictates, drivers and teams would have no problem showing up and racing after what they have gone through the past year.
"There are just a lot of things that happened that probably wouldn’t have happened as rapidly if we weren’t in this environment, so in a really, really bad scenario, I think we’re going to come out of this with a lot of ideas and tried a lot of things we might have not necessarily tried if it was a normal year," Harvick said.
Thinking out loud
Who said there would be math when there would be qualifying?
NASCAR did. NASCAR’s decision to use a driver’s finish in heat races and "passing points" to determine the starting lineup in a couple of weeks in the Bristol dirt race certainly seems a little complicated. Drivers will get points on a 10-to-1 scale depending on heat race finish and a point for every spot improved from start to finish.
Without time trials to determine the heat lineup – they will be done by draw – at least it doesn’t leave a driver’s starting spot totally dependent on the draw. And with 250 laps in the main event, there will be plenty of time to come from the back.
The math during the heats won’t be fun. It will lead to many questions and in general could be a headache. But nothing about the Bristol race is simple, so, I guess, why should setting the lineup be simple?
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They Said It
"I would consider us a challenger at just about any racetrack that you go to, but you’re not going to be that way all the time." – Kevin Harvick
Bob Pockrass has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s. He joined FOX Sports in 2019 following stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @bobpockrass.