In the midst of an ongoing pandemic, NASCAR found another way to be first in the world of sports. On Wednesday night NASCAR executed a plan that allowed 25 percent fan capacity at Bristol Motor Speedway.
I shouldn’t have been there.
Not that I wasn’t welcome, as some people have understandably felt about the sport. Or even that it was conspicuously unsafe. I just expected to be in Los Angeles covering the MLB All-Star Game this week, but life throws curveballs and I made contact with one that sent me to Bristol, Tennessee.
You see I’m not a diehard racing fan. The last time I kept up with a full season before the pandemic was likely 2002 or 2003, as a small kid when my dad and I would sit on the couch on Sunday afternoons watching “another left turn.”
However, when racing returned in a sports-deprived world, I like many others latched on.
Then NASCAR announced they would allow fans for the All-Star Race under heavy restrictions, and curiosity got the best of me.
Would fans actually follow the requirement to wear a mask? Would the stands be socially distanced or packed on top of each other? Would I simply feel as though I was risking my safety all for a couple hours of entertainment?
NASCAR successfully hosted the All-Star Race with a “choose your level of safety” model that I expect will catch on with other sports, whether good or bad. You can try to mandate precautions such as Bristol did with face masks being required to enter the turnstiles, purchase food, and walk to your seat. However, because we live in a free country it’s impossible to enforce.
I kept my mask on until I got to my seat and stayed the designated six feet away in the merchandise line, but no one was policing individual’s decisions. Plenty of people congregated in groups, wore masks around their chins, or were without one (after all there were multiple guys who weren't even wearing a shirt.)
Bristol’s spacing of the 20,000 fans in attendance took a similar avenue where assigned seats kept everyone that ideal six feet apart. It didn’t keep two very friendly and intoxicated race fans on the front row right next to the finish line from hugging and closely making conversation throughout the night.
Unfortunately, the largest hole in NASCAR’s safety plan came at the finish of the All-Star Race. As fan favorite and Georgia native Chase Elliott burnt rubber at the finish line that spawned clouds of thick white smoke, attendees rushed to the fence to cheer on the young driver. Every precaution was thrown out at that moment and the ensuing time exiting the racetrack. Bristol announced a plan to exit by row but a general free for all was created, naturally.
The ONE MILLION DOLLAR MAN is Georgia native @chaseelliott!!! #AllStarRace pic.twitter.com/AMz98MQkpv
— 92.9 The Game (@929TheGame) July 16, 2020NASCAR will undoubtedly feel a sense of pride for pulling off the event while other leagues have a plethora of decisions to make before reaching the fan aspect. Drivers like Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin, and winner Chase Elliott were very open about their excitement for fans returning to the track. However, it is tough to determine whether this model for fan experience is truly transferable to other leagues. Sure on the surface level everything appeared as safe as perusing your local grocery story on an amplified scale, but no one was being tested upon departure for the virus.
Attending a sporting event in 2020 is without doubt a risk. But by ripping off the proverbial Band-Aid, NASCAR bolstered confidence, whether valid or not, that will continue to grow.
In the meantime follow the slogan Bristol used as a campaign–Be an All Star, wear a mask.
