Cities see protests rage on as Wolf vows changes to policing

125125869_web1_marytheresebiebel--1-

Here’s a broccoli dish that almost tastes like candy

It&rsquo;s not quite how anyone would have imagined it. But history will go on as scheduled at Pocono Raceway at the end of the month.
				NASCAR released the latest segment of its revamped 2020 schedule on Thursday, and the Cup Series&rsquo; first doubleheader will still be held on June 27 and June 28 at Pocono. Fans will not be allowed to attend in person for public health reasons.
				The twinbill is the highlight of five total races over three days at the track in Long Pond, starting with an ARCA race at 6 p.m. on June 26.
				Moving into the weekend, June 27 will have a Trucks race at 12:30 p.m. followed by the first Cup race at 3:30 p.m. Wrapping things up on June 28 will be an Xfinity race at 12:30 p.m. and the second Cup event at 4 p.m.
				Track CEO Nick Igdalsky said Thursday that trying to move to another weekend in the hopes that fans might be able to attend later in the year wasn&rsquo;t feasible. Monroe County, where the track is located, is currently in the yellow phase of reopening but is on track to be in the green before the race weekend.
				&ldquo;It sets a domino effect. If you postpone in the hopes that you might be able to do it, then what if you don&rsquo;t do it (at all),&rdquo; Igdalsky said. &ldquo;The essence is just to get the races in at this point. We weren&rsquo;t even sure if we were going to be in the yellow phase or the green phase, the way everything was trending for quite some time.
				&ldquo;The plan (for handling fans) would take quite a bit longer, to be able to come up with a plan for entry and egress for all your fans. A limited amount of seating, and then which fans would be able to attend? It&rsquo;s a domino effect of problems, and quite honestly, it&rsquo;s too big of a bridge for us to cross.&rdquo;
				There has never been two Cup Series races on back-to-back days at the same venue. The announcement that Pocono would be the first came a year ago, as NASCAR chose to condense its usual two trips to the track into one weekend.
				But all of that was put in jeopardy by the coronavirus pandemic, which put a halt to the sports world in mid-March. Even as NASCAR became one of the first leagues to return to action last month, the schedule was overhauled to keep the initial races closer to teams&rsquo; headquarters in the South to help with the transition back.
				Last week, Pocono Raceway announced that fans would not be permitted to attend any of the races as Pennsylvania remains in the process of reopening from a lengthy shutdown designed to &ldquo;flatten the curve&rdquo; of the virus. Even that announcement came with the caveat that NASCAR had not yet finalized the dates for Pocono races.
				&ldquo;It is a substantial (financial) hit for the raceway&rsquo;s bottom line and also for the visitor&rsquo;s bureau,&rdquo; Igdalsky said. &ldquo;But we&rsquo;re good. Pocono Raceway, we&rsquo;ve survived times harder than this, for sure, financially in our history. It&rsquo;s no secret that (track founder Doc Mattioli) was bankrupt several times trying to get this track up and running until really the late 70s and 80s, when it really took off.
				&ldquo;So tough times are not something we haven&rsquo;t had to deal with before. And we&rsquo;re prepared to deal with them again. We&rsquo;ll be back next year stronger and better than ever.&rdquo;
				Igdalsky said the track may find out in a couple weeks if Pocono will have the opportunity to &ldquo;run it back&rdquo; with another doubleheader in 2021, citing strong ticket sales in the months prior to the pandemic.
				&ldquo;It was an amazing experiment. &#8230; We saw numbers that were stunning, that we were really blown away with,&rdquo; Igdalsky said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re hoping that NASCAR gives us the opportunity to run this event in this format in 2021 because it had tremendous promise.&rdquo;
				Also on the new schedule, which is now set through the first weekend of August, NASCAR&rsquo;s All-Star Race will be a midweek event on July 15 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
				Following the weekend at Pocono, NASCAR will then move to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a July 4 weekend event combined with the IndyCar Series. Then it is on to Kentucky Speedway, the All-Star Race and then Texas Motor Speedway.
				Kansas Speedway will host the Cup Series for a Thursday night race July 23.
				New Hampshire will host the Cup Series on Aug. 2 in the final event announced in this latest revised schedule. NASCAR canceled eight points races in the Cup Series and the All-Star Race during a 10-week shutdown for the coronavirus pandemic.
				NASCAR has so far run nine national series events &mdash; five in the Cup Series &mdash; since it resumed May 17 without spectators.

NASCAR’s Cup doubleheader confirmed for end of June at Pocono Raceway