DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – NASCAR announced on Tuesday it will allow fans to begin attending races for the first time since March 8.
According to NASCAR, the first event for fans will take place this Saturday at the Homestead-Miami Speedway as part of the Cup Series.
Officials said they will welcome 1,000 South Florida servicemembers to attend the race.
That will be followed on June 21 at the Talladega Superspeedway with a limit of 5,000 fans being allowed to watch the Geico 500.
At both events, NASCAR officials will require fans to be medically screened when they enter, wear face masks, follow strict social distancing requirements of six feet and stay off the infield.
"I missed out on everything, including NASCAR," said Travis Girafa.
Girafa told News 6 he moved to Daytona Beach in March just as everything was shutting down due to the coronavirus, and he's a big NASCAR fan.
"I have to be honest, on TV it wasn’t really my thing," he said. "Experiencing it in person, it literally blew me away, and I was a fan overnight, honestly."
News 6 asked NASCAR officials if the new health and safety protocols for fans would be implemented at the Daytona International Speedway.
They would not confirm that.
“It’s a cautious, conservative approach,” said Daryl Wolfe, NASCAR executive vice president and chief sales and operations officer. “We feel confident in our plan. Also it doesn’t mean that we won’t also have additional learnings and adapt our plan going forward. That’s the whole purpose of being very slow, methodical in phasing this in.”
"If people want to go in and enjoy themselves and they know the risks, go inside and know the risks," said Jill Bisberg of Daytona Beach.
Officials said they will welcome 1,000 South Florida service members to attend the race.
