On 19th July, NASCAR visited the Texas Motor Speedway and elected to take a massive risk. The United States is still struggling in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, but NASCAR allowed fans to attend two events. The first was the All-Star race at the Bristol Motor Speedway, and the second was the Texas Motor Speedway.
Now, according to FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass, at least 12 days have passed since the All-Star race at Bristol. In addition to that, around 8 days have elapsed since the Cup race at Texas, and fans attended both events.
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Pockrass revealed that he spoke to the local health departments to assess the COVID-19 cases in those areas. He wanted to know if any of the cases stemmed from attendees of those races.
It's been 12 days since fans were at Bristol for all-star and 8 days since fans were at Texas for the Cup race. So I checked in with health departments for those areas today to see if any COVID-19 cases in those areas are being associated with those races. What they said… (1/3)
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 27, 2020
What did the NASCAR track authorities say?
The Denton County authorities in Texas reported, “No positive COVID-19 cases associated with TMS races at this time. Worth noting info provided during case investigations is voluntarily from positive individual, including their contacts, locations visited, and/or employers.”
Meanwhile, in Bristol, Tennessee, the Sullivan County Health Dept observed that no cluster has been identified. However, they are still awaiting results from a number of labs.
The authorities are also working on the massive local upsurge, case notifications, investigations, and contact tracing.
For the moment, NASCAR breathed a sigh of relief, especially after a few scares. To be precise, a couple of weeks ago, veteran driver and multiple-Cup winner, Jimmie Johnson, tested positive.
The good news is that he has seemingly recovered now and is raring to go.
Coming back to the subject at hand, NASCAR is not taking any chances in spite of the negative cases. This is because several other race venues are set to run in front of empty stands as they are unwilling to push their luck.
The next race on the calendar is the Henry 180 at Road America in Wisconsin. Fortunately for fans, the Road America track is allowing fans to attend, though they have to follow strict social distancing norms.
ALSO READ- NASCAR Champion Jimmie Johnson to Miss Brickyard 400 After Positive COVID-19 Test
SOURCE- Bob Pockrass- Twitter, FOX 11 News
