This past weekend, an invitational event consisting of NASCAR drivers and personnel gave us some form of racing. Won by Ryan Blaney’s spotter Josh Williams, The Replacements 100 consisted of people like William Byron, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chad Knaus, and former Chicago Bears lineman Kyle Long and had tens of thousands of viewers on Twitch.
Now, NASCAR is set to launch their own special series consisting of real NASCAR drivers in order to fix the withdrawal of no sports and no racing due to the coronavirus. The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series is a multi-week series that’ll consist of drivers from all three series as well as others involved within the sport. More drivers will be revealed in due time but drivers who have committed include Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Larson, and Christopher Bell.
NASCAR also hosts the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, which is the top tier series with 40 of the best sim racers. At this year’s virtual Daytona 500, Keegan Leahy edged out Nick Ottinger by .004 seconds while everyone pretty much wrecked behind them. At least if you wreck on iRacing it’s a lot cheaper and safer.
The first race is going to be held at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway at 1:30 PM ET. NASCAR was supposed to be in Homestead this weekend but given that’s unable to happen, this is the next best thing. Broadcast details are to be announced but if NASCAR is able to get a broadcaster to put this on TV, this could be a whole new world for eSports and NASCAR.
About Phillip Bupp
Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them.
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @phillipbupp