By: Ashley McCubbin

On Friday, Stewart-Haas Racing sent out a statement to several media outlets confirming a pair of positive COVID-19 tests.

“Stewart-Haas Racing has experienced two positive COVID-19 test results, neither of which involve personnel who travel to race events,” the statement read. “Robust protocols have been in place and continue to be followed diligently to mitigate the spread of the virus while maintaining the health and safety of all members of the organization and greater community.”

SHR becomes the first team to openly state a number of positive cases.

With NASCAR limiting the amount of crew members at the track, many teams have also put in protocols that those attending events not be allowed in the shop, so this may not be a concern moving forward. Per protocols at the events, NASCAR Executive Vice President Steve O’Donnell said recently things have been going smoothly.

“We’ve certainly had some folks who may have presented some symptoms that we’ve turned away early. That’s up to them to disclose if there were any issues in terms of did someone have COVID or not, but I would say (the protocols have) worked 100% according to plan,” he commented. “We’ve not had challenges during an event where anything has come up where we’ve had to react during the hours that the garage was open. It’s been if there were any issues prior to someone entering the facility, which have been very minimal.

“We expect there will be some challenges. We need to continue to do our due diligence. We need to continue to wear our masks. We need to continue to follow the protocols.”

While currently not concerning, it could bring forth problems if this spreads to other teams having positive tests or individuals at the track beginning to test positive. Already, other sports, like Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League have not restarted up, and seen teams close practice facilities due to positive tests.

When questioned about the number of positive tests the series has encountered, NASCAR Vice President of Racing John Robo did not specify. Instead, he spoke about the policy.

“A lot of that information is confidential, whether we have or we haven’t,” he stated. “We get that information from people that we work with.  We will take all the responsible steps to make sure that we have advised the people that individual may have been in contact with of what’s needed.

“I think what’s unique about every COVID positive, each presents its own set of unique facts.  What our policy is, when those things start to come in, we will work with people and our medical experts to see exactly who needs to be notified, what we need to do responsibly and work with any local officials if we need to.”