DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR has announced the cancellation of three race weekends as the sanctioning body continues to adjust its schedule amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The events originally scheduled for Richmond (Va.) Raceway on April 18-19, Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway on June 12-13 and Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., on June 18-21 have been realigned to other speedways and will not be rescheduled.
“Due to the current pandemic, NASCAR has faced several difficult decisions, including realigning race dates from several race tracks,” the NASCAR statement read. “These decisions were made following thorough collaboration with local and state government officials from across the country, including the areas of the affected race tracks. We thank all our fans for their support, and we look forward to our return to racing.”
The NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series events originally scheduled for Chicagoland have been realigned to Darlington (S.C.) Raceway on May 17 and May 19. The NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway has been realigned to Darlington on May 20. Lastly, Sonoma Raceway’s NASCAR Cup Series race has been realigned for May 27 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“We work all year for this event, so this is a huge disappointment for us, for our fans and our sponsors, but we realize it’s part of a larger challenge facing our nation and everyone in the live events business,” said Steve Page, Sonoma Raceway president and general manager. “We are excited that NASCAR is coming back to broadcast television and are ready to support the upcoming events at our Speedway Motorsports tracks. We look forward to NASCAR’s return to Sonoma in 2021.”
Chicagoland was also set to host the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series on June 19 and ARCA Menards Series on June 18. Those events will be reassigned at a later date.
“The difficult decision to realign our race events was a combination of where we fell on the schedule, proximity to NASCAR’s teams and the safety and well-being of our community and larger NASCAR industry,” said Chicagoland Speedway President Scott Paddock. “We will miss the roar of the engines at Chicagoland Speedway this season, but we will be rooting for and supporting our NASCAR colleagues at Darlington Raceway as competition returns on Sunday, May 17.”
The Truck Series race that was to be run April 18 at Richmond Raceway remains postponed, with officials working to reschedule that event. The Virginia track’s fall weekend, slated for Sept. 11-12, remains unchanged at this time.
“As a sport, we continue to be united in the best interests of the safety and well-being of our fans, competitors, stakeholders, and track personnel,” said Richmond President Dennis Bickmeier. “There will be brighter and healthier days ahead in the greater Richmond region when NASCAR returns to Richmond Raceway for the NASCAR Playoff Race Weekend on Sept. 11-12. We look forward to NASCAR’s best getting back on the track at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, May 17 as we launch a new countdown to the return of racing in RVA this fall.”