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| Darlington produces great racing in any era. |
Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway comes 70 days after its last race at Phoenix Raceway just before America getting shut down due to the pandemic. More than just the race itself, NASCAR jumping back into business is a small sign for many that normalcy will soon be upon us.
We all may not be back to work yet, but watching old games from any sport has run its course. We need our live sports that flow with the seasons, and spring has been rough. But last Saturday’s UFC event in an empty Jacksonville arena started the ball rolling. My friends who follow it closely loved it, especially the betting aspect.
Sunday’s Darlington race can do the same and perhaps capture more of an audience than usual just because live sporting events are so scarce these days as we wait for MLB, the NBA and NHL to announce a game plan.
While the sportsbooks and casinos remain closed in Las Vegas, the UFC and NASCAR events were big enough for South Point owner Michael Gaughan to open a drive-thru for signing up new sports betting phone accounts, which in turn spurred Circa and William Hill books to do the same. It also opened the phone app at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook which had been closed.
To catch up with races on dates that have already passed to maintain 36 races for a full Cup season, NASCAR will run seven races in 10 days between its top three touring series at Darlington and then Charlotte Motor Speedway over Memorial Day weekend. All seven races will run with no fans in attendance and crew members and TV crews will all be under strict guidelines of maintaining social distance.
NASCAR is expected to announce more changes to the schedule this week but did reveal that three tracks will have races eliminated this season due to the coronavirus. Sonoma Raceway, Michigan International Speedway (first date), and Chicagoland Speedway will lose their scheduled dates.
The Cup Series will race on Sunday and Tuesday at Darlington while the Xfinity Series will race on Monday night. Charlotte will host racing four straight nights with the Cup Series racing Sunday and Wednesday, Xfinity on Monday, and the Truck Series on Tuesday.
The races being bunched together with so little time in between will be something new for the sportsbooks to factor in with their oddsmaking.
“We’re excited to see the two (Cup) races within a few days at one of NASCAR’s premier tracks,” said Circa Sports director Matt Metcalf. “It should be amazing to see them run Sunday and then apply what they’ve learned on the quick turnaround that week.”
That type of quick turnaround scenario was originally going to happen for the June 27-28 races at Pocono Raceway. Of the four Cup dates about to happen at Darlington and Charlotte, only the Coca-Cola 600 will have qualifying and none of the four will have practices.
SuperBook manager Ed Salmons said that no practices or qualifying will make his process of creating odds and booking the race through the week easier because he won’t have to take the odds down to readjust while important practices are going on. No need to babysit the numbers so much. Usually, the final practice of a race is the most insightful means of finding the weekly winner in odds to win and driver matchups.
It makes it easier for the book, but it’s going to be a little more awkward for the driver’s usual process on a race weekend.
“I’ve run probably 300 or 400 laps already at Darlington (on a simulator) just to get the rhythm and the feel and the idea of what to expect,” three-time Darlington winner Jimmie Johnson said.” Because I’ve never been cold turkey at a track before and rolled straight in and lined it up and raced.”
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