NASCAR Exec VP & Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O’Donnell felt that yesterday's race at Darlington "went well as the sport returned to racing but with restrictions." O’Donnell: “Things actually went smoother than we could have expected getting all the teams in and inspection went well. All in all, a really good day for the sport. Excited to be back." O’Donnell said that "there would be a Monday meeting for NASCAR to digest the weekend as it goes forward with two more races at the facility."
The Xfinity Series will be in action tomorrow night, followed by a second Cup Series race Wednesday night. Between now and then, "safety practices remain in place, and teams have been encouraged to keep their road crew and shop crew separate, and drivers will continue to isolate themselves." For Sunday's race, O’Donnell said that "medical personnel cleared everyone who worked at Darlington and was 100 percent confident they were in a good place to go racing" (RACER.com, 5/17).
NASCAR's return to the track was featured in the opening segment of all three major network news shows: “ABC World News,” “CBS Weekend News” and “NBC Nightly News” (THE DAILY). NBC’s Morgan Chesky said the race marks “a turning point for all sports” (“NBC Nightly News,” 5/17).
