NASCAR held a conference call with team owners this morning to discuss the issues around completing the '20 schedule later this year, as more races are poised to be postponed due to the coronavirus. NASCAR has only announced that last weekend's race at Atlanta and this weekend's race at Homestead-Miami are postponed, but the industry is bracing for a more prolonged suspension of the season following the new CDC guidelines recommending major events not be held for at least eight weeks. The next two NASCAR race weekends following this weekend are at SMI tracks in Texas and Bristol, and the final two races in April are NASCAR tracks in Richmond and Talladega. IndyCar has suspended its season through April.
Sources said that NASCAR held a conference call this morning to gauge the challenges teams are facing from this situation and make sure teams are on board to do what it takes to complete the slate this year. Options for postponed races would include running midweek events for tracks that only had one race, like Atlanta and Homestead, or possibly doing some sort of doubleheader for tracks with a second fall race later this year like Texas. NASCAR has yet to make any comments or public announcements today. Teams are nervous about the coronavirus postponements as they rely on races not only for league revenue but also to showcase and host their sponsors. Teams make about 75% of their annual revenue from sponsorship and about 25% from league revenue.
