INDIANAPOLIS — The war we’re in with an invisible enemy is starting to show progress. While we can’t underestimate the COVID-19 nuisance, the models are starting to show it slowing down in a lot of areas around the world — including the United States.

Since Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus back on March 11, the sporting world has been on a hiatus. The last time we saw anything live was the first half of play in Game 2 of the Big East Tournament on that Thursday afternoon (March 12). Since then, we’ve been on a six week break with no end in sight.

Now, one thing is starting to become clearer — racing is getting ready to start back up again. NASCAR has made it pretty clear that they’re going to do everything that they can to resume their season next month. But, if they’re going to do so, it’s also going to be without fans in the grandstands.

There are some states willing to jump in on this action. Just look at what some governors have said in the last few days.

Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis, said that he’s in favor fan-free sporting events being held inside of his state and even singled out NASCAR as a possibility.

“Like if NASCAR does a race and can televise it without having large crowds, I think that’s a good thing,” DeSantis said in a recent interview. “I think people have been starved for content. We haven’t had a lot of new content since the middle of March.”

A race at the Homestead-Miami Speedway is in the works for potentially happening next month. Then, a race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway could follow. Here’s what North Carolina’s governor said last Thursday.

A race at the Texas Motor Speedway is rumored to be happening soon after that too. The NTT IndyCar Series is supposed to race on the 1.5-mile track in the Lonestar State on June 6. There’s a rumor going that the NASCAR Cup Series could join them and race a day later on June 7 for the first IndyCar-Cup doubleheader weekend.

On Monday, Texas’ governor tweeted out that a NASCAR race could come soon albeit without fans.

TMS issued a statement of their own agreeing with this move, which holds more merit to what we’re heading about a doubleheader weekend in early June.

Prior to all of this, Eddie Gossage wasn’t a fan at all of holding races at his track without fans in the stands. Now, he’s since changed his tone.

A big reason for a doubleheader there is, IndyCar doesn’t have the lucrative TV deal that NASCAR has. As a result, they don’t pay the race tracks a TV rights fee. NASCAR though, well they pay the tracks a lot based off their TV deals.

So, it doesn’t make any sense for Texas to host an Indy Car race without fans. They won’t make any money. But, if you pair it with the NASCAR weekend, well they get NASCAR’s TV deal and can host a ton of races that weekend and at least be profitable in the process.

In wake of this, we may see more IndyCar/NASCAR doubleheaders in the end due to the TV deal that NASCAR can bring. It’s a day and age where everyone needs to help each other.

With all of this being said, we now know that Charlotte, Homestead, Daytona and Texas can host races without fans. More will surely follow.

The only way this happens though is if North Carolina can make NASCAR essential. Currently, the state is under a stay-at-home order through April 29 which that could be extended too. If extended, NASCAR would have to be move to essential if they want any part of racing in May.

Most of the teams reside in that state but they can’t get to work with being nonessential. It’s hard to stage races at venues when teams can’t go to work to prepare their cars. All signs though point to North Carolina making this happen though for NASCAR.

It’s not ideal in the slightest in terms of fan fare, but this is all a sign that racing could be coming back sooner rather than later. We will all just have to watch from the comforts of our homes and not in the venues for a while.