The July 4 weekend IndyCar-NASCAR races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) will take place without fans present. The decision to hold the events with empty stands came from IMS officials after discussions with local and state officials. The IndyCar Grand Prix and the Xfinity Series Pennzoil 150 will take place on July 4, with the NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard 400 following on July 5.
NASCAR was one of the first sports leagues to return since the coronavirus pandemic and, while track officials were previously optimistic these events could be run with fans, they decided that it is still too soon to do that.
"While we certainly worked diligently to run our events with spectators, we reached a point where we needed to make a final decision because the race weekend is less than a month away," Penske Entertainment Corp. CEO Mark Miles told the Associated Press. Today it's not possible to be confident that Indianapolis will be at Stage 5 of the state's reopening plan by the Fourth of July weekend."
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb's five-stage coronavirus plan to reopen the state has the final stage, which would allow fans to attend sporting events, beginning on July 4. The city of Indianapolis is currently in stage three of the reopening plan.
NASCAR returned on May 17 at the Darlington Speedway. IndyCar will open their season at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday. The Indy 500, which is the world's largest single-day sporting event, bringing in around 275,000 fans to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, has been rescheduled for August 23.
