When Will Racing at Bowman Gray Return?
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After a couple of months of pretty much all entertainment being shut down, things are very slowly beginning their process of starting back up. Some have been quicker than others, such as NASCAR, who is preparing to run their 4th cup race tonight since the pandemic halted things. But a lot of race fans around North Carolina are wondering when Bowman Gray Stadium will open its doors again for weekly Saturday night races. The much anticipated season was supposed to begin a month ago. Now as some other local tracks have opened back up, we’re still waiting for a definitive date for the first race at Bowman Gray.
The bad news is that “definitive date” might not come for a while. According to the latest update on bowmangrayracing.com, while the track is still planning on hosting races this season, they are playing the waiting game for the time being. North Carolina is still in Phase 2 of the Covid-19 restrictions, and during this phase, Bowman Gray is not allowed to have more than 25 spectators present. So, track managers are waiting on the end of Phase 2, which would finally allow racing to be held as normal, with thousands of fans present.
However, the problem is that we don’t know when the end of Phase 2 will come. Obviously, it will depend on how effective it is over the next several weeks. But Governor Cooper has stated that it will last until at least June 26. That means at least another month without racing at Bowman Gray.
While the anticipation is leading to growing frustrations with every single week that passes, we’ll all just have to keep our fingers crossed that Phase 3 gets here sooner than later. But another problem that Bowman Gray will have is the start of college football season (if it starts on time). Winston-Salem State University plays their home football games at Bowman Gray Stadium, so the racing season always ends in August to make way for football season. That means that if racing begins at the end of June/beginning of July, there will only be about a month and a half of racing season left, or about six races.
In all honesty, I wouldn’t be surprised if racing doesn’t happen at all this year at Bowman Gray. But we’re still waiting on so many different things that it’s difficult to make any predictions. When will Phase 2 end? Will college football season be started on time/played at all? Would the stadium hold an extremely shortened season? We will just all have to continue to stay tuned and hope for the best.
To read more about Bowman Gray Racing, click on this link for an article I wrote last year titled, “Bowman Gray Racing: The Best Entertainment You Probably Don’t Know About”
Garett