How did NASCAR ever manage to pull that off at Darlington?

NASCAR somehow managed to not only return from the coronavirus pandemic well ahead of most other major professional sports but fit in three races during a week with a weather forecast that called for near non-stop rain and thunderstorms — and with limited flexibility.

Returning to live action from the coronavirus pandemic was quite a task in itself for NASCAR, given all of the precautionary measures that needed to be taken just to get the drivers and the essential staff to Darlington Raceway for the first races since early March.

But NASCAR’s comeback went off without a hitch on Sunday, May 17 with the The Real Heroes 400, the first Cup Series race since the FanShield 500 at Phoenix Raceway 10 weeks earlier.

That didn’t mean NASCAR wouldn’t be faced with other non-pandemic challenges throughout the week, however.

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NASCAR’s return to racing schedule was always going to be packed to make up for the many postponements caused by the pandemic, and indeed it was. From this past Sunday through Sunday, June 21, there were 19 races on the schedule across the Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Truck Series.

This 36-day schedule included multiple weekday events and multiple days with multiple races. In other words, within this schedule itself, there was very little leeway.

Then this unfortunate fact reared its ugly hear: a world with the threat of COVID-19 certainly doesn’t mean a world without the threat of miserable weather.

NASCAR seamlessly proved Sunday that they could race safely amid the former, something that few other leagues had done in any capacity since the sports world was effectively shut down.

The latter, of course, will halt those plans every time, and with such a packed schedule for the foreseeable future, this was a nightmare scenario for the sport due the implications that rescheduling would have.

But despite not only a dire weather forecast but an accurate one that correctly predicted multiple torrential downpours, thunderstorms and lightning strikes in the Darlington, South Carolina area, which houses the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) egg-shaped oval, throughout much of the week, NASCAR somehow managed to fit in the two remaining races by Thursday, just one day after they had planned to.

They did it by modifying both of the remaining races, one Xfinity Series race and a second Cup Series race, and they did it by modifying both of those races multiple times.

But the bottom line, they did it, and many fans didn’t think it was possible given the circumstances.

The Toyota 200 Xfinity Series race had been scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday evening. To combat the threat of bad weather, NASCAR moved the start time up to 6:00 p.m. ET. That didn’t help matters, so the race was delayed before it ultimately ended up being postponed to Thursday at 12:00 p.m. ET.

The Toyota 500 Cup Series race had been scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday evening. With the bad weather forecast in mind, NASCAR made the same move, bumping it up to 6:00 p.m. ET. Again, that didn’t help matters, but instead of postponing it, NASCAR waited it out.

They sought out a window to dry the track and run a race, and the action ended up getting underway shortly after 8:00 p.m. ET.

The entire 228-lap race wasn’t completed, but a good chunk of it had been contested before the rain caused the race-ending red flag. Take away a few of the race’s whopping 11 caution flag periods, and the entire race probably ends up being completed. It was ultimately called after 208 circuits.

Thursday afternoon brought a familiar sight: a wet track, lightning strikes, thunder, you name it. Everything that was predicated weather-wise came to fruition.

Needless to say, the Xfinity Series race didn’t start on time.

It was delayed by roughly five hours, and even after NASCAR successfully located a window during which to try the track, there was rain still in the forecast during the race.

But that rain held off, and the entire 147-lap event was completed.

And with that, so was NASCAR’s first official week back.

NASCAR deserves a ton of credit for getting back to live action while other leagues such as the MLB, NBA and NHL sit idle looking for plans, as opposed to allowing these other leagues to serve as the guinea pigs.

But NASCAR also deserves a ton of credit for doing everything they could possible to mitigate a daunting and potentially disastrous weather forecast to complete the week of racing when they did to avoid a massive rescheduling headache.

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Now NASCAR is set for another busy stretch of races, with one each day over the next four days at Charlotte Motor Speedway, including a Cup Series race today, an Xfinity Series race tomorrow, a Truck Series race on Tuesday and another Cup Series race on Wednesday.

Fortunately, the weather forecast for Concord, North Carolina looks a lot better than the weather forecast did for Darlington, South Carolina throughout last week, although there may be a few periods of rain here and there to complicate things.

After Wednesday, the next races are scheduled to take place at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 30 (Xfinity Series) and Sunday, May 31 (Cup Series).

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How did NASCAR ever manage to pull that off?

By Asher Fair | May 24, 2020

NASCAR somehow managed to not only return from the coronavirus pandemic well ahead of most other major professional sports but fit in three races during a week with a weather forecast that called for near non-stop rain and thunderstorms — and with limited flexibility.