NASCAR plans to welcome guests back into garages – as long as they're vaccinated
By Bob Pockrass
FOX Sports NASCAR Writer
NASCAR will allow a limited number of guests per team in the garage next month, and drivers appear to be eager to see executives from their sponsors.
But they won’t exactly get to see them – at least not for all that long – considering that this is the beginning of NASCAR's guarded approach to allowing non-competitors into the garage area and on pit road for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It’s a huge deal for us," team owner Joe Gibbs said. "We need to get our partners back with us. So I'm sure hoping. I know NASCAR has talked about it, I know they're doing everything they can, but that would be a huge deal for us."
NASCAR has not made a formal announcement of its plans for the May 7-9 weekend at Darlington Raceway, but it provided information to FOX Sports about what it expects at Darlington:
– Each team, each manufacturer and the track will get a handful of guests. Those guests must be fully vaccinated. Prior to COVID-19, it wasn't rare for a team to be able to entertain a sponsor executive and some family members of that executive, but now it most likely will be limited to the sponsor executive only.
– The guests will have access to the garage and pit road, but there will be no hauler tours, no meetings with drivers (drivers stay in the driver/owner motorhome lot) and no access to the "hot" side of pit road, meaning no photos of the guests by the cars or with the drivers prior to the race, as was the custom before the pandemic. If their car wins, the guests will be allowed on the pit box and will be allowed to go into victory lane for a socially distanced photo with the team.
– Each team will be responsible for confirming that its guest has been fully vaccinated. NASCAR might ask for a vaccination card at screening but will not store any health data.
– NASCAR is not requiring drivers and crew members to be vaccinated but is highly encouraging them to do so. NASCAR asks about vaccination on its screening form each week, and it estimates that the NASCAR industry mostly mirrors the national averages for vaccination but might be a little lower because on average crew members and drivers are relatively young and only recently became eligible.
– NASCAR currently allows a family member or significant other of a driver or owner to stay in the driver/owner lot. It is working on a plan to allow those individuals to also go to pit road for the race.
– Masks will be required for anyone in these areas.
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 47.6% of the U.S. adult population (over 18) has received at least one dose of the vaccination, and 29.6% of adults are fully vaccinated (two weeks after receiving second dose).
Many NASCAR tracks have been used as vaccination sites.
"We’ve got so many guys that love racing, key people that support our race team," Gibbs said. "I'm sure other race teams are the same way. We need, as quick as we can, to get those people inside, back where they can get and enjoy racing again.
"I think most of our key sponsors – the CEOs, upper management of our sponsors – most of them, as I continue to talk to them, have been vaccinated. So hopefully that's going to make a difference, too. I have. I know a lot of people on our team have. So I'm hoping that's our breakthrough."
NASCAR picked Darlington to start the program because it seemed to be the best place for a soft opening – a relatively small venue that isn’t one of the biggest corporate hospitality tracks for a race on Mother’s Day. If everything goes well at Darlington, NASCAR could expand the number of people two weeks later at Circuit of the Americas.
Drivers know that interaction with sponsors and fans is key. Chase Briscoe said his sponsor, High Point, started with him last year, and executives attended one race before access to the garage was limited to essential personnel.
Many companies get involved with NASCAR in hopes of being able to network with sponsor executives of other teams.
"Last week walking into Martinsville, I probably signed for 30 or 40 fans walking in because they’re all standing there [by the tunnel entrance]," Briscoe said. "I feel like it’s no different if we have sponsors in the garage or whatever.
"The sponsors in the garage is a huge thing that we’ve been needing to have happen. ... That’s something they’ve been needing to be able to do – to go and talk to other companies from a B2B [business-to-business] standpoint and meet these other people and CEOs and things like that."
Some drivers have started doing appearances again to promote their sponsors’ products, so they are having some interaction with fans. Drivers are used to their teams and NASCAR dictating the safety of the tracks and their cars. In some ways, this isn’t a whole lot different.
They will go with what NASCAR comes up with, and until they see a major safety concern, they will go with the flow.
"I’ll just roll with whatever is comfortable with how we approach it," said Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron. "I feel fairly comfortable as is right now. I think the protocols and things are working well.
"I think it’s going to be a gradual thing. But I think you see all sports right now getting more and more fans around, having them in masks but being able to have them around. So I’m good with it if people have masks on."
Certainly, the sports world will look to see how NASCAR handles guests in its "locker room" area and observe the public reaction to vaccination being required for admittance to that area.
NASCAR legend and team owner Richard Petty did a public service announcement for the state of North Carolina after he was vaccinated, and President Biden’s administration has said it is working with NASCAR to help get the word out.
But at least some drivers are sensitive about not wanting to share details of whether they get vaccinated.
"I don’t tell you guys when I go to the doctor – not out of disrespect, but that’s just that I’m kind of a personal guy," Chase Elliott said. "When it comes to my health, I’m making decisions about my health on my own terms."
Brad Keselowski said he is comfortable with however NASCAR handles guests in the garage.
"Everybody’s standard is different, so I can only speak to my standard, which might not be a shared standard, and let me be the first to recognize that, but as far as I’m concerned, I’m comfortable just going, ‘Open it up. Let’s go.’
"Not everyone might be in that same spot, but I’m 100 percent comfortable to get back to normal."
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What To Watch For
Obviously, Martin Truex Jr. is one to watch Sunday afternoon at Richmond. He has won two of the past three Richmond races. He didn’t win the 2020 trip, as Keselowski cruised to that win by 1.568 seconds over Truex, leading 192 of 400 laps on the way to that win.
Denny Hamlin won the opening stage in September and has three Cup victories at Richmond, his "home" track, as he grew up in nearby Chesterfield. Other current Cup drivers with multiple wins at Richmond: Kyle Busch (six), Kevin Harvick (three), Kurt Busch (two), Keselowski (two) and Joey Logano (two).
Looking for someone unexpected? Try the Richard Childress Racing drivers. Austin Dillon was fourth last year, and Tyler Reddick was the highest non-playoff driver, in 11th.
Thinking Out Loud
The Richmond race this weekend is back as a Sunday afternoon affair. Over the past decade, it has gone from being a night race to a day race for a few years and then back to a night race for a couple of years.
A hot day at Richmond can mean a better race, as the track is slick, and the tires have less grip, allowing for more chances to pass as drivers have trouble running consistently fast laps without occasionally getting a little loose.
But a night race has a little more electricity, especially with the glow of the brakes. It also has a cool, local, short-track night race feel.
While some fans are used to the night race traditions at Richmond and enjoy the atmosphere a night race can bring, having one day race and one night race on the schedule doesn’t seem like a bad idea. It might help distinguish the two from each other a bit more.
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Darlington Paint
This week’s look is not a paint scheme but the old Goodyear branding on the tires for Darlington that dates to the 1960s and '70s. Some might not think of tires as a big deal, but they add to the throwback element (as long as the tires weren’t made in the 1960s and '70s).
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They Said It
"We all want to win, but I feel no different today than I did at the end of last year, and the results were just fine then." – Chase Elliott on not having won this year
Bob Pockrass has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s. He joined FOX Sports in 2019 following stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @bobpockrass. Looking for more NASCAR content? Sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass!
