Kevin Harvick Reveals Biggest NASCAR Changes Amid COVID-19

With Sunday’s race at Phoenix approaching, NASCAR fans are preparing to mark the first anniversary of when the sports world shut down. The 2020 trip to Phoenix was the last race before an extended delay. Now, Stewart-Haas driver Kevin Harvick has spoken about the major changes to NASCAR since the delay and return to action.

“As a sport, we’ve done a really good job navigating and adapting to our environment and things that we need to do to put on a race and a show,” Harvick told reporters on Tuesday. “And obviously, you’re seeing fans back in the stands, and I think our sport’s been a leader in a lot of those types of things.” He continued and explained that the coronavirus would forever change the sport.

As Harvick continued to explain, he said that the pandemic allowed NASCAR to examine inefficiencies and try new things. The sport examined the number of people at the track, how they arrived, and several other factors. Harvick said that the sport would come out of the pandemic, having tried a lot of things that may not have necessarily been attempted in the past.

The Stewart-Haas driver had a firsthand look at the changes due to coronavirus. He won the very first race back after the long delay, an event at Darlington Raceway. After he climbed out of his car, Harvick realized that the facility was almost entirely silent. There were no cheers from the fans or any noise other than other cars.

The lack of fans was surreal for Harvick and his fellow drivers, but they adjusted to the change as the season continued. They competed at tracks all around the country and celebrated major victories in front of empty stands. However, many of these drivers made comments about looking forward to when fans could once again return to the track.

While the lack of fans and the altered approach to broadcasting created many concerns, it also sparked a unique addition. FOX Sports flew a drone over the track that was capable of 80 mph at a time. There were no concerns about flying over a populated area due to the lack of fans, and the camera provided a unique viewpoint of the track, the stands, and the cars.

“The fan reaction has been fantastic to the drone,” said Mike Davies, SVP of Field & Technological Operations for Fox Sports, during an interview with PopCulture.com. “Especially with NASCAR, because one of the biggest things about racing, in general, is that it’s very hard to get a view of just how fast the cars are going on TV. You go to a NASCAR track, or you go to an F1 track or an Indy car track, you can see how fast these cars are going and it’s really exciting.”