Darlington Raceway to host two races in May, report says
Darlington Raceway will be a busy place next month.
The South Carolina racetrack will host two NASCAR races in May, according to a report Tuesday by AutoWeek, The publication obtained a revised race schedule that was sent to teams.
S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster, asked about the topic during a news conference Tuesday, would not confirm the races are happening, only saying NASCAR would make that decision.
“That would be wonderful,” McMaster said. “Those kind of decisions are being made all around the country.”
An official announcement is expected from NASCAR this week, according to the Autoweek report.
Darlington’s proximity to Charlotte, where most of the race teams are located, is why NASCAR would consider the track for the races, which would happen without fans in attendance.
Darlington Raceway president Kerry Tharp told The State said Tuesday the track didn’t have any comment at this time.
According to the reported revised schedule, Darlington will host a 400-mile race on May 17 (a Sunday) and a 310-mile race May 20 (a Wednesday). Other races scheduled for May and June are the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte on May 24 and Charlotte 310 on May 27, Martinsville (May 31), Bristol (June 3), Atlanta (June 7) and Miami (June 14).
On Tuesday, N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper said in a media briefing that NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 race is on schedule to run May 24 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“We believe that unless the health conditions go down that we can have the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend in Charlotte,” Cooper said. “... I think that NASCAR will be making that announcement. We believe that’s what will happen.”
Darlington hosting a race had been rumored for a couple weeks, heightened when S.C. tourism chief Duane Parrish confirmed reports that NASCAR’s oldest superspeedway would host a race once the sport’s season resumes.
“Some good news,” Parrish said last week. “The RBC Heritage announced they will be playing a made-for-television event, no spectators. Before that, Darlington will broadcast a race as well with NASCAR. So we do have some lights at the end of the tunnel in regards to events.”
NASCAR hasn’t hosted a race since March 8 because of the coronavirus pandemic. The sport has been hosting computerized IRacing events since then and televised on Fox.
NASCAR said earlier this month that it hoped to run all 36 races this season.
It’s likley Darlington’s May races won’t take the place of the track’s Southern 500 date on Labor Day weekend. If that happens, it will be the first time ever the track hosts three Cup races in the same year.
The RBC Heritage, the PGA Tour’s stop in South Carolina, had its original April 16-19 dates taken away because of the coronavirus. But the PGA announced last week that the Hilton Head Island event will be held June 18-21 — without spectators.
Hosting both events puts South Carolina at the forefront of sports’ return from a shutdown that started more than a month ago.
Darlington hosted races on Mother’s Day weekend from 2005-13 and then hosted a race in April before moving back to its traditional Labor Day weekend date in 2015. The venue has also hosted the sport’s popular throwback weekend every year since 2015.
This year’s Labor Day date — before the shutdown — was going to be the first race in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
According to a 2017 study commissioned by Darlington Raceway and conducted by the USC Darla Moore School of Business, a normal Darlington race weekend (with spectators) generates $53 million for the state.
This story was originally published April 28, 2020 at 5:21 PM.
