On Thursday, NASCAR announced that it will resume its season without fans beginning May 17.

Kelly Crandall reported for Racer.com that the racing season, which was only a few weeks old when the coronavirus pandemic forced the schedule to be put in neutral, will recommence with a series of races at two tracks over 11 days.

The Cup Series will kick off the restarted season at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.  Two days later, on Tuesday, the Xfinity Series will race there, followed by another Cup Series race on Wednesday.

Charlotte Motor Speedway plays host to all three NASCAR series the following week, beginning with the Cup Series, Coca-Cola 600 race on Sunday, May 24.  The Xfinity Series races on Monday, the Truck Series runs Tuesday and a second Cup Series race takes place on Wednesday.

The organization said they will mandate the use of personal protective equipment, social distancing and health screenings will be used.  The number of personnel allowed at each event will reportedly be minimal.

Last week, Dana White, the outspoken president of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a mixed martial arts fighting league, announced that the organization would hold UFC 249 (a PPV event) and two other contests which were postponed by the COVID-19 outbreak, beginning May 9.

All three events will take place at the VyStar Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. with no fans and minimal personnel.  Yesterday, UFC released the full lineups for the two, non-PPV events which are scheduled be held on May 13 and May 16.

Also yesterday, Major League Soccer (MLS) announced that beginning May 6, the league would allow players to voluntarily use outdoor team-operated fields for individual workouts.

According to a MLS press release, individual players may work out on their own quadrant of the field and will not initially be allowed to pass or shoot the ball.  The at-will workouts will be subject to a myriad of restrictions, such as limited access to club facilities, health screenings and the use of personal protective equipment when applicable.

The League has not yet announced a date when it plans to continue playing games.