Like a movie with no musical score, NASCAR returns from a two-month coronavirus-forced hiatus on Sunday for a race without the fans.

Not even the growl from 40 V8 stockcar engines will make up for the silence in the empty grandstands at South Carolina’s Darlington Raceway as NASCAR drivers discard iracing consoles for a return to the danger and excitement of the real thing.

While drivers are certain to feel the adrenaline pumping through their veins again, when the green flag drops it is unlikely motor racing fans will get the same familiar rush.

How a sporting world without spectators in the stands is greeted will be decided by TV ratings and viewership numbers, but after months of watching virtual sports and archive of historic clashes, everyone seems ready for some live action.

“We’re going to be missing some of that (excitement) but I look at the reaction from fans all over social media, how excited they are that they get to see a race,” Jeff Gordon, three-time Daytona 500 winner and now race analyst for FOX told Reuters.

“Sport and traditions are the things that bring normalcy to us so I think having a NASCAR race on TV, I think most people, and I know I do, appreciate being part of this event.

“But I don’t want it to get to the place where people are just comfortable with no fans there and just say, “Oh that’s the new norm”.

Eddie Gossage, president of Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) which will stage the first IndyCar race on June 6 had one word for racing without fans — “depressing”.

The sight of 135,000 empty seats will be a dispiriting one with the sprawling North Texas circuit a ghost town of shuttered concession stands and garages with the exception of a few race teams rolling around the 84 acre infield like tumble weeds.

“It will be depressing. Nobody in the stands! What!,” Gossage, told Reuters.

“This whole thing is counter-intuitive.

“It is just not exactly when we thought we would, but we will not miss a thing between IndyCar, two (NASCAR) Cup races, two truck races, two Xfinity races we will run them all.

“Whether there are fans there or not is to be determined.”

Each team will be limited to 16 personnel, including driver and owners, and follow strict guidelines on social distancing.

Drivers who go to work covered from head to toe in safety gear from helmets to fire retardant socks will have one more item on Sunday – wearing masks from motor homes to their cars.

“It is going to be unique and different,” said Gordon.