We all knew Martinsville (VA) Speedway’s announcement was coming at some point. With a stay-at-home order for the state of Virginia though June 10, how can NASCAR stage a race in the Commonwealth a month shy of that mandate ending?

Well, Friday ended up being the day the announcement came.

As of a result of the ongoing coronavirus crisis, the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 race weekend (May 8-9) at Martinsville Speedway has been postponed and will be rescheduled for a later date. One version of NASCAR’s plan is to race this event on a weeknight in July.

Martinsville Speedway will continue to work closely with NASCAR officials on a rescheduled race date, while maintaining contact with local and federal health officials for the latest information on the ongoing (COVID-19) coronavirus pandemic.

“We want to thank all of our dedicated fans who were set to join us during our May race weekend and our first NASCAR Cup Series race under the lights,” said Martinsville Speedway President Clay Campbell. “The well-being and safety of our patrons, NASCAR stakeholders, employees and our community continues to be our number one priority. We appreciate your patience and understanding during these challenging times and we look forward to having everyone back in the near future to help us make history once again at Martinsville Speedway.”

As part of NASCAR’s statement, they said that postponing was the right thing to do but their new plan is to still race at a location to be determined as soon as next month but will do so without fans.

Right now, the next race up on the schedule is May 24 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway for the prestigious Coca-Cola 600. The other two Memorial Day weekend races have either been postponed (Indianapolis 500) or canceled all together (Monaco).

Charlotte is under their own stay-at-home orders through April 29 but their governor tweeted on Thursday that he’d like to open his state back up soon but will have to do so with a new normal for a while. Part of that new normal would be to hold sporting events without fans in the stands, which makes a ton of sense for NASCAR to restart their season a little more than a month from now in Charlotte without fans.