Pro sports returning to South Florida in June as NASCAR schedules 4 races in Homestead
Professional sports continue to return to action in South Florida, now with competitive events at the highest level. NASCAR will be running a series of races next month at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The speedway will host four races June 13 and 14, culminating with Dixie Vodka 400 on June 14. Homestead-Miami Speedway will also host a NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race June 13, and two NASCAR Xfinity Series races June 13 and 14.
NASCAR announced its plans in a press release Thursday as it prepares to return to action Sunday after a more than two-month hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are excited that NASCAR is back up and running and that we have the chance to host four races in one weekend,” speedway president Al Garcia said. “Commemorating our 25th anniversary in 2020, we certainly would have liked our fans to be able to join us for this milestone, but we hope they are able to enjoy four outstanding races from the comfort and safety of their homes. We view this as a tremendous opportunity to show off the unbridled beauty of our track and Miami to a national audience, as sports fans across the country are eager to watch live events once again. We look forward to playing an integral role in the return of professional sports to South Florida.”
The races will be held without any fans in attendance in Homestead more than three months after the speedway was scheduled to host its annual NASCAR race weekend.
The Dixie Vodka 400, the annual NASCAR Cup Series race held in South Florida, was scheduled to run in March along with an Xfinity Series race and Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series event before the coronavirus outbreak forced NASCAR to postpone all events indefinitely less than two weeks ahead of time.
Now the track is part of NASCAR’s fan-less restart plan, which begins Sunday in Darlington, South Carolina, after months spent waiting and looking for racing alternatives like “iRacing.”
NASCAR will return to action Sunday with The Real Heroes 400 at Darlington Speedway, then will race there again for another Cup Series race Wednesday.
Darlington will also host the Xfinity Series’ return to action Tuesday. NASCAR will also hold two Cup Series races, an Xfinity Series race and a Truck Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.
Homestead’s addition to the calendar is part of NASCAR’s second wave of races added to its heavily modified schedule. NASCAR is also bringing races to Bristol Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Martinsville Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, throughout the end of May and June.
The second wave begins in Bristol, Tennessee, with an Xfinity race May 30 and a Cup race May 31. NASCAR will then move to Hampton, Georgia, to start June with a race in all three series at Atlanta, then move on to Martinsville for another Cup Series race in Ridgeway, Virginia.
NASCAR will then come to Miami-Dade County to host races again in all three series before finishing up the second wave with races in the Cup Series, Xfinity Series and ARCA Menards Series at Talladega in Lincoln, Alabama. The extra Xfinity Series race in Homestead is a realigned race, which was originally scheduled for Iowa in June.
The trip to Florida will likely be the first to require air travel for NASCAR’s primarily Charlotte-based teams. All other races are scheduled for tracks within a five-hour drive of the city, which serves as the sport’s de facto headquarters.
“As we prepare for our return to racing at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, the industry has been diligent in building the return-to-racing schedule,” NASCAR executive vice president Steve O’Donnell said in a statement. “We are eager to expand our schedule while continuing to work closely with the local governments in each of the areas we will visit. We thank the many government officials for their guidance, as we share the same goal in our return — the safety for our competitors and the communities in which we race.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis has pitched Florida as something of a haven for pro sports while the country battles COVID-19. Professional wrestling and horse racing were both able to continue with modifications, and the UFC began hosting events in Jacksonville on Saturday. On Wednesday, the Miami Heat returned to AmericanAirlines Arena for individual workouts at the team practice facility and the Orlando Magic got the OK to do the same at its facilities Thursday. Other professional sports leagues — including MLS and the NBA — have reportedly eyed Central Florida as a location to potentially resume play in a centralized location to cut down on travel concerns.
This story was originally published May 14, 2020 at 4:44 PM.
