The March 22 NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway may be postponed due to concerns around COVID-19, also known as coronavirus, Miami-Dade County officials announced Thursday, March 12.
The county’s mayor, Carlos Gimenez, issued a statement Thursday announcing that the county is under a state of emergency.
“Although we do not have community spread at this time, we want to take the preemptive steps to keep it that way,” Gimenez said in a release. “Therefore, I have decided to suspend the operation of the Miami-Dade County Youth Fair, the Miami Open tennis tournament, the MIA 5K run, and all major events at the American Airlines Arena. The March 22 NASCAR race at the Homestead Miami Speedway is postponed at this time. NASCAR officials will decide whether or not to hold the race without fans.”
At press time, NASCAR officials had not yet announced whether NASCAR would field the race without spectators or if the race would indeed be postponed.
NASCAR’s schedule has both the Cup and Xfinity series at Homestead that weekend, with the latter scheduled to mark the race-a-year return of Dale Earnhardt Jr. to the driver’s seat. The mayor’s release did not mention the March 21 Xfinity event, though it’s assumed it would be affected as well.
NASCAR has not yet announced whether any additional measures besides those announced yesterday will be in effect at this weekend’s racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Cup, Xfinity and Gander RV & Outdoors Truck series.
Kevin Rutherford is the executive editor of Frontstretch, a position he gained in 2025 after being the managing editor since 2015, and serving on the editing staff since 2013.
At his day job, he's a journalist covering music and rock charts at Billboard. He lives in New York City, but his heart is in Ohio -- you know, like that Hawthorne Heights song.