‘Miracle’ miles: NASCAR’s return surprisingly smooth at Darlington

The odds were against NASCAR flawlessly executing its reopening plan, which was a potential standard-setting moment for other professional leagues to follow in this new normal of sports.

A sport with a storied history of cheating, lying and sometimes stealing in the name of winning expects its participants to tell the truth if they aren’t feeling well, practice social distancing at the track and at the shop, and wear face masks.

Cloth over your face for 12 hours under the South Carolina sun is not ideal. Yet everyone complied Sunday at Darlington Raceway and NASCAR — a series often criticized for being consistently inconsistent and making up rules on the fly — successfully staged a…