NASCAR To Use COVID Sniffing Dogs To Detect Virus

When sports organizations have been brainstorming how to control the COVID-19 virus, an idea to use dogs to try to sniff for COVID began to arise. Now, NASCAR is putting that to the test.

During this weekend’s races at Daytona, NASCAR plans to use trained dogs to sniff for the virus when drivers or crew members enter the garage. If a dog is to detect the virus, the individual will undergo further testing.

NASCAR is using dogs trained to detect COVID at garage entry this weekend. The dogs sniff a crew member's hand and if the dog detects the virus, the crew member would be tested and evaluated to determine whether allowed entry to garage.

— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) August 27, 2021

[SideAction-ad-group]

NASCAR fans had a mixed reaction to the news of dogs being used to detect COVID.

Hold up. How the fuck can the dog "sniff" Covid? https://t.co/IplCDcHMWC

— 𝔻𝕒𝕜𝕠𝕥𝕒 (@Dakota48_19XX) August 27, 2021

This can’t be real?!?! https://t.co/wWJI8IquU3

— Fresh (@Fresh402) August 27, 2021

I kinda trust the dogs to detect Covid more than I trust the tests… https://t.co/EUkREJlSLm

— David Bozell 🇺🇸 (@DavidBozell) August 27, 2021

This is embarrassing https://t.co/Apr4pCW0H5

— 🅿️at™ (@PLang4) August 27, 2021

Got my Friday laugh https://t.co/LlHTk3SHdg

— Joe (@joegrubb11) August 27, 2021

The idea NASCAR has with the COVID sniffing dogs started last month, when the organization did a trial run at its Atlanta races.

“We think that these dogs and this capability is going to allow us to rapidly confirm that all of those people entering the essential footprint on Sunday — that’s race teams, that’s NASCAR officials, that’s the vendors that work inside the garage — all those folks are COVID-free or not,” said Tom Bryant, NASCAR managing director of racing operations. “The ability to do that has kind of been the math problem that we have continuously tried to solve since March of last year.”

Even if fans may be confused, dogs could prove to be an asset when detecting and managing COVID before it turns into a larger outbreak.

Welcome to the game outside the game! Follow us on our Sideaction Twitter handle, Instagram, and Facebook for the latest on sports and pop culture news across the web!