Well, the writing is on the wall now race fans. If you were expecting to attend the 104th Running of the Indianapolis 500 in August, don’t hold your breath anymore. While it could still happen, I wouldn’t count on it. Start bracing yourself now.

IMS and IndyCar are still committed to having fans come in August, but what hope should you have left that those plans won’t be altered.

“We remain committed to welcoming the world’s greatest fans to the Speedway for the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race in late August,” Mark Miles said on Thursday morning.

July 4 was supposed to see the state of Indiana reopen, but the city of Indianapolis is lagging a couple of weeks behind. In turn, that means no fans will be able to go to the NASCAR-IndyCar doubleheader weekend.

Disappointing. It’s not the tracks fault. It’s not NASCAR’s fault. It’s not IndyCar’s fault. Blame COVID-19 and the local government for that.

A few hours later, it was announced that the Indiana State Fair in August would be a no-go too. The dates on that? Aug. 6-22. The Indianapolis 500 is currently scheduled for Aug. 23. If the Fair with a far less daily capacity is closing for 2020, why would the Indy 500 remain in place with fans in the stands? What would be any different from Aug. 22, the fair’s last day, and Aug. 23?

Then, NASCAR announces their updated 2020 plans and has their schedule set through Aug. 2. Out of those races, Pocono, Indy, Kentucky and Kansas have already said they’re a no-go for fans to come. That leaves just Texas and New Hampshire as the only ones even entertaining the idea. While Homestead and Talladega this month could have limited fans in the stands, with this recent chain of events, NASCAR may just play it safe and wait until August now.

If their races are being planned like this, what again makes us think that by the end of August, a venue would be allowed to fit around 300k fans in one place?

I get all the reasons why they could, but I also get all the reasons why they couldn’t, and if you follow the theme here, all the reasons why they couldn’t has won out so far. In fact, all the reasons as to why fans can’t be in the stands so far is undefeated and batting 1.0000. They’re not losing this matchup and unfortunately, I don’t see that changing any time soon anymore.

Heading into this week, I was optimistic. Everything was looking promising. Now, it’s back to square 1.

Yes, we’re still over two months from the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, but it appears that if that race is going to happen in August, it’s going to be behind closed doors. That’s unfortunate and sad. It’s like the wound isn’t healed yet and someone pulled the band aid half off. Just go ahead and rip the whole thing off so we have time to move on.

I hope I’m wrong, but what part of any of this going on up to this date now signifies that there’s any hope that I am.