{"id":8259,"date":"2020-05-25T00:26:43","date_gmt":"2020-05-25T04:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonmotorsport.com\/?p=8259"},"modified":"2022-07-22T12:10:35","modified_gmt":"2022-07-22T16:10:35","slug":"signs-of-a-race-weekend-in-charlotte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2020\/05\/25\/signs-of-a-race-weekend-in-charlotte\/","title":{"rendered":"Signs of a race weekend in Charlotte"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>CONCORD, N.C. &#8212;\u00a0<\/strong>Exit the baggage claim at Charlotte\/Douglass International Airport and head to the car rental section. In the center of the room, adjacent to a line for National Car Rental (seriously, none of the others were open), was an American Airlines Richard Childress Racing car.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I don\u2019t know if this <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AmericanAir?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@AmericanAir<\/a> car is always here, but it\u2019s the first sign I\u2019ve seen all weekend that it\u2019s race weekend in Charlotte.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NASCAR?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#NASCAR<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/CocaCola600?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#CocaCola600<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>cc: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CLTAirport?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@CLTAirport<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jkZY2OtVye\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/jkZY2OtVye<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Tucker White (@TuckerWhite94) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TuckerWhite94\/status\/1264595175218786304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 24, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Unlike Indianapolis International Airport, however, there&#8217;s no signage at Douglass to indicate a race weekend is happening at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Nor was any sign visible in the Queen City.<\/p>\n<p>Across the United States, on a normal weekend, there are signs that the NASCAR circus has come to town; both figuratively and literally. Charlotte is normally no exception.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, however, you&#8217;d never guess that one of NASCAR&#8217;s crown jewel events was running as planned.<\/p>\n<h2>Signs of a race weekend in Charlotte<\/h2>\n<p>Drive through Uptown Charlotte, no Coca-Cola 600 banners hung from the poles. No fans decked in gaudy driver shirts walked the streets.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Even the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NASCARHall?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@NASCARHall<\/a> of Fame shows no sign of life on this <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/CocaCola600?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#CocaCola600<\/a> weekend, aside from some onlookers <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NASCAR?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#NASCAR<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WC0TRqXo0D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/WC0TRqXo0D<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Tucker White (@TuckerWhite94) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TuckerWhite94\/status\/1264610390098526208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 24, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NASCAR Hall of Fame stood silent, with the occasional onlooker walking by the main entrance and peering into the main hall.<\/p>\n<p>Head east on Interstate 85 towards Concord, you&#8217;ll see some &#8220;Welcome Race Fans&#8221; banners outside of gas stations that line Bruton Smith Boulevard. Missing, however, are the All-Star Race\/Coca-Cola 600 banners that hang from the street poles.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Even at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CLTMotorSpdwy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@CLTMotorSpdwy<\/a>, the only sign of a race weekend is the roar of engines during qualifying. There\u2019s no merch haulers, fans in gaudy shirts or the pageantry of the theatrics one expects from the Smith family.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NASCAR?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#NASCAR<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/CocaCola600?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#CocaCola600<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7nTEm3ylvE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/7nTEm3ylvE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Tucker White (@TuckerWhite94) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TuckerWhite94\/status\/1264623788102242304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 24, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The campgrounds were empty, with some RVs belonging to dealerships lining the drive towards the track. No merchandise haulers, no fans, no over-the-top performance acts one expects from the Smith family.<\/p>\n<p>On the backside of the speedway&#8217;s property rested the Speedway Motorsports, Inc. merchandise haulers.<\/p>\n<p>The only sounds disturbing the crowd-less area were the cars driving by the track and cars hitting the track for qualifying.<\/p>\n<p>But just as with Darlington, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonmotorsport.com\/2020\/05\/17\/the-story-of-an-abnormal-nascar-race\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">last Sunday<\/a>, the 61st running of the Coca-Cola 600 ran on.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brad Keselowski<\/strong>\u00a0stayed out on the final caution, while\u00a0<strong>Chase Elliott<\/strong> pitted, to take the lead on the final restart in overtime and win at Charlotte.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CONCORD, N.C. &#8212;\u00a0Exit the baggage claim at Charlotte\/Douglass International Airport and head to the car rental section. In the center of the room, adjacent to a line for National Car Rental (seriously, none of the others were open), was an American Airlines Richard Childress Racing car. I don\u2019t know if this @AmericanAir car is always [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3353,"featured_media":6864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1664],"tags":[248,592,14,1269,371],"class_list":["post-8259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","category-nascar-cup-series","tag-charlotte-motor-speedway","tag-coca-cola-600","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-2020","tag-nascar-cup-series"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3353"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}