After seven long weeks of NASCAR racing on hold, fans were thrilled for the return of Sunday afternoon races. NASCAR took to the Darlington South Carolina track kicking off the return of the Cup Series.
NASCAR recently released a revised race schedule which includes multiple races a week to make up for lost time as a result of the Coronavirus Pandemic. The revises schedule included two races in one week at the Darlington Raceway. Both races this week involved some wild racing and of course some crashes.
Sunday, May 17, 2020 the excitement of the Cup Series' return filled social media platforms as speculation began to roll in. The race on Sunday caused many to worry because the driver didn't get a chance to warm up, so they started to race cold turkey. Right off the bat at lap 1, Ricky Stenhouse (#47) crashed not even giving him a chance to really race. After Stenhouse's crash Jimmie Johnson (#48) was leading until he crashed into a car that was a lap behind him, taking him out of the race. Jimmie Fans were crushed as this is Johnson's final season. Concluding the 400-lap race, Kevin Harvick takes home his 50th NASCAR Cup Series career win. Fans were in for a wild race, but it was long-awaited.
Wednesday, May 20, 2020 was another exciting day of racing for NASCAR fans. It was also a day full of rain delays. This race was executed much more comfortably by drivers because they were familiar with the track and they weren't racing cold turkey after seven weeks of not touching their cars. Chase Elliot (#9) and Kyle Busch (#18) had an unfortunate run-in with each other. Elliot came up on the side and got in front of Busch who then clipped the back of Elliot's car turning him right into the wall. Later that night, Busch apologized and said it wasn't intentional at all, but just an unfortunate accident. Ending the night in first place with his 200th victory was Denny Hamlin (#11).
The races this past week have been nothing short of exciting and worth the seven weeks wait. As of right now, the current NASCAR season is to resume and end at its normal time.
