NASCAR sends memo to teams about mask use and coronavirus exposure

This week, NASCAR sent a memo to teams about crew members not fully following coronavirus protocols. Several team members have been caught not wearing masks properly or at all, and some may have lied about coronavirus exposure.

This comes as coronavirus cases rise down south and out west. A lot of the locations with the rising cases are places where NASCAR is expected to host events in the near future.

Additionally, this is after Jimmie Johnson became the first driver to test positive for the virus. He got it from his wife who was having mild symptoms. After a short quarantine period, he tested negative twice and was cleared to return to racing. He missed just once race.

Although NASCAR won’t release how many tests have came back positive throughout the sport, it’s presumed that the number is rising. If team members weren’t following guidelines and numbers weren’t going up, then I doubt NASCAR sends out the memo. Policies haven’t been enforced very strictly, but that could change for the coming events.

Here’s the memo below:

The memo seems to be a warning to the teams, and a strong reminder about the impact that coronavirus can have. Coronavirus shut down the sport before, and it could do it again if the situation in the sport worsens.

Hopefully, NASCAR won’t see many more coronavirus cases and teams will effectively be warned from the memo. Ratings have been improved since the return in May, and staying in business would be great for the sport. The playoffs are nearing and the intensity is rising, with a lot of racing ahead. It would be a shame if NASCAR got shut down again.