April 28, 2020 | By Lee Spencer

North Carolina Governor greenlights Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper expects NASCAR to hold the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway without fans in the grandstands, unless health conditions in the state deteriorate before then.

“I have had conversations with NASCAR officials and officials of the Charlotte Motor Speedway,” Cooper said in a Tuesday afternoon news conference, “and they have submitted plans that involve social distancing. Our public health officials—(secretary of the department of health and human services Mandy) Cohen and state health director Betsy Tilson—have looked at them and made some suggestions but will approve those.

"And we believe that, unless health conditions go down, that we can have the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend in Concord. I think NASCAR will be making that announcement, but we believe that’s what will happen.”

The announcement was good news to Marcus Smith, president and CEO of Speedway Motorsports, which owns Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“On behalf of our team at Charlotte Motor Speedway, I’d like to thank Gov. Cooper and all of our state and local government officials who are working with us to get NASCAR back on track with the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend where it belongs,” Smith said in a statement. “We’ll have more details to share soon in conjunction with NASCAR’s release of a revised event schedule."

NASCAR shared a possible schedule with its Cup teams on Monday, showing a possible return to action May 17 at Darlington Raceway, with another event to follow at the Lady in Black on May 20. The Coca-Cola 600 would be held on its scheduled date of May 24, followed by another Charlotte date on May 27.

NASCAR has expressed its commitment to running a full schedule of 36 points races, despite the lockdown for the coronavirus pandemic. To do so, the slate of events of necessity must be condensed.

Alex Bowman, winner of the eNASCAR iRacing event on Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, hopes NASCAR can return to racing in front of fans as soon as health conditions allow.

“Yeah, it's going to be different without fans for sure, obviously,” Bowman said. “The fans are why we get to do what we get to do. It's unfortunate that we're not going to be able to have fans there, but at least we'll be able to put on a show for everybody at home watching. 

“Hopefully, we get to go do that soon.  That would be great.”

Newman, Kenseth can run for NASCAR Cup title

NASCAR announced on Tuesday afternoon that both Ryan Newman and Matt Kenseth have been granted waivers that will allow them to compete for the championship in the Cup Series. Newman sustained a head injury in the Daytona 500, missed the next three events and received medical clearance from NASCAR on Monday.

Team owner Chip Ganassi announced on Monday that Matt Kenseth will come out of retirement and replace Kyle Larson in the No. 42 CGR Chevrolet. Larson lost his job April 14, after using a racial slur while competing in an iRacing event on virtual Monza’s F1 course.