For the second year in a row, a swarm of bees managed to cause a fuss during NASCAR weekend in Fontana, California. If anything, bee infestations at race tracks give the whole “need for speed” thing a much different meaning.
On Friday, a few angry insects invaded the flag stand at Auto Club Speedway and kept the flag person from waving the green on Xfinity Series practice. The entire situation somehow mirrors what the Fontana race weekend saw in 2015, when bees nearly took ownership of Derrike Cope’s Xfinity Series hauler in the infield:
USA Today reports that a beekeeper came in to spray the swarm after the practice session, but a good amount of them hung around—angrier than ever—for the Sprint Cup Series qualifying session that followed. Due to the remaining bees, the flag person had to stand on an elevated platform near the start-finish line rather than on the actual flag stand in order to wave the flags during qualifying.
NASCAR held Sprint Cup Series practices and Xfinity Series qualifying early in the day on Saturday, and a spokesperson told USA Today that NASCAR doesn’t expect to have more problems with their insect friends this weekend. But after bee problems at Auto Club Speedway two years running, the track may just have to start charging them admission from this point forward.
Or, maybe not. At this point, it’s probably safe to say that bees don’t enjoy NASCAR coming into their race track and making a bunch of noise. The truth sometimes stings, but not every creature can be a racing fan.