CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It will be a summer in the South for NASCAR, as the stock car series announced Thursday it will stick to Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia, Florida and Alabama for June races — all of them without fans.
NASCAR has now set plans for 20 races — including nine in the elite Cup Series — as it returns to the tracks after being shut down for more than two months during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Cup Series is scheduled to resume Sunday at Darlington Raceway and run four times in 11 days at the South Carolina track and at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.
Then NASCAR will go to Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee on May 31. The track is roughly three hours driving distance for most of the Charlotte-area based teams. Some drivers could fly privately to the track via helicopter.
NASCAR will then race at Atlanta Motor Speedway with the Truck Series and Xfinity Series on June 6 and the Cup Series on June 7. The track in Hampton, Georgia, is at least a four-hour drive and teams could need hotels.
The Cup Series will race for a third time on a Wednesday night at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia on June 10.
Then all three national series will run together and require air travel with two full days at Homestead-Miami Speedway in South Florida. The Truck Series and Xfinity Series will race June 13, then the Xfinity Series will run again on June 14 in a warm-up for the Cup Series.
NASCAR will then go to Talladega Superspeedway with the ARCA Series and the Xfinity Series racing June 20 and Cup on June 21. The teams can drive to the Alabama speedway but many might use hotels.
“As we prepare for our return to racing at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, the industry has been diligent in building the return-to-racing schedule,” Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer, said in a statement. “We are eager to expand our schedule while continuing to work closely with the local governments in each of the areas we will visit. We thank the many government officials for their guidance, as we share the same goal in our return — the safety for our competitors and the communities in which we race.”
Also Thursday, NASCAR announced the postponement of events at Kansas Speedway (May 30-31), Michigan International Speedway (June 5-7), the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Mid-Ohio (May 30) and the Gander Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway (June 5).
All NASCAR national series races and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at Iowa Speedway were canceled this year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.