NASCAR: Governor’s decision could cancel August race weekend
By Asher Fair
The August NASCAR race weekend at Watkins Glen International could be canceled if New York Governor Andrew Cuomo does not grant the sport a quarantine waiver.
NASCAR has yet to confirm a 2020 schedule that extends beyond the first weekend in August. Under the current installment of the return to racing schedule, the 2020 Cup Series schedule now features 34 races including the 14 races that have not had their dates altered following that weekend.
It is believed that Michigan International Speedway and Dover International Speedway, two tracks which are still seeking replacement dates from earlier this season, will host doubleheader weekends later that month to complete a full 36-race schedule.
Michigan International Speedway is already scheduled to host a race on Sunday, August 9 while Dover International Speedway is already scheduled to host a race, the penultimate race of the regular season, on Sunday, August 23.
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But questions have arisen about another race weekend on the schedule for August, and that is the one at Watkins Glen International.
The Xfinity Series is set to race around the eight-turn, 2.454-mile (3.949-kilometer) road course in Watkins Glen, New York on Saturday, August 15, and the Cup Series is set to do so on Sunday, August 16. However, under New York’s current coronavirus restrictions, individuals traveling to the Empire State from 16 states (Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah) must quarantine for 14 days.
“As an increasing number of states around the country fight significant community spread, New York is taking action to maintain the precarious safety of its phased, data-driven reopening,” said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
“We’ve set metrics for community spread just as we’ve set metrics for everything the state does to fight COVID-19, and eight more states have reached the level of spread required to qualify for New York’s travel advisory, meaning we will now require individuals traveling to New York from those states to quarantine for 14 days.”
With NASCAR not having a 14-day break scheduled in between any two races throughout the remainder of the season and with the majority of the teams being based in the state of North Carolina, the sport would need to be granted a waiver by the governor whose state was hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic.
According to Sports Business Journal’s Adam Stern, there is mounting skepticism within the industry that this will happen.
NASCAR industry execs are increasingly skeptical that @NYGovCuomo will grant the sport a quarantine waiver for the August @WGI weekend, which would put that race in serious doubt.
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) July 4, 2020
➖ If the WGI weekend was canceled, @NASCAR could move the Cup race to a roval in the Southeast. pic.twitter.com/FIgmLcfDyX
As Stern noted, NASCAR has options so that they can still piece together a full 36-race schedule with a race weekend during the third weekend in August if Cuomo decides not to grant the sport a waiver for that weekend.
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Team Penske’s Austin Cindric secured his first career Xfinity Series victory at Watkins Glen International last year. Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott secured his first career Cup Series victory there two years ago and is the two-time reigning winner of the race. The track began hosting NASCAR races in 1957 and has done so for 34 consecutive years going back to 1986.