The NTT IndyCar Series will begin its season with a one-day show at Texas Motor Speedway on June 6, the series announced Thursday, May 7.
The race day will consist of practice, qualifying and the race, officials said.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, fans will not be allowed to attend the event.
“We’ve worked closely with Eddie Gossage, the entire TMS team and public health officials on a plan of action that will ensure the safety of our event participants alongside an exciting return to competition for our drivers, teams and viewers tuning in from around the world,” IndyCar President Jay Frye said in a release.
“America needs live sports and they are not going to believe what they see when the Genesys 300 storms into their living rooms on TV from Texas,” Eddie Gossage, president and general manager of Texas Motor Speedway, added. “One of the world’s greatest sporting events, the Indy 500, has been postponed until August by coronavirus, so all of that pent-up energy, anticipation, frustrations and anxiety will be pounding through the drivers’ nervous systems. Typically, the Genesys 300 results in a 220-mph photo finish.”
To further protect those allowed at the racetrack, IndyCar officials also announced there will be several preventative measures taken. Those include: strict access guidelines limiting the number of personnel on-site, a health screening system administered to all participants, PPE equipment provided to everyone entering the facility, along with guidelines on usage, social distancing protocols in place and carefully maintained and revised competition layout to increase distance.
To accommodate the one-day schedule, the race will be shortened to 200 laps instead of its originally announced 248 laps.
Practice will run from 1:30-3:30 p.m. ET, followed by qualifying at 5 p.m. ET and the race itself at 8:45 p.m. ET. NBC Sports will broadcast the Genesys 300.
About the author
Mark Kristl joined Frontstretch at the beginning of the 2019 NASCAR season. He is the site's ARCA Menards Series editor. Kristl is also an Eagle Scout and a proud University of Dayton alum.
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When is nascar coming back and what channel network will it be on
May 17th, Darlington. FOX