Company: Toyota

Texas Invitational Advance – Erik Jones Readies for Round Two

by Mike
Texas Invitational Advance – Erik Jones Readies for Round Two

Details:

  • Race:              O’Reilly Auto Parts 125 (Round 2)
  • Series:            eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series
  • Time/Date:    1 p.m. EDT on Sunday, March 29
  • Location:       Virtual Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
  • Distance:        125 laps (187.5 miles)

Where to Watch:

  • FOX network
  • Announcers: Jeff Gordon, Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds, with in-race commentary from Clint Bowyer.
  • FS1 (DIRECTV Channel 219 and Dish Channel 150)
  • FOX Sports Go app
  • FOX Sports Racing for fans in Canada

DYK?:

  • Last Sunday’s eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series race at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway was the single most-watched esports event in U.S. history. The race drew 903,000 viewers on FS1, besting the previous high of 770,000 viewers when Mortal Kombat aired on The CW in 2016.
  • The race was the highest-rated broadcast on FS1 since mass postponements of sporting events began on March 15.
  • During the race, the #ProInvitationalSeries was the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter in the United States.

Overview:

  • The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series is an exhibition esports series featuring a collection of actual racecar drivers from the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series.
  • The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series kicked off last Sunday at Homestead. It is a multi-week series emulating the original 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule.
  • With the sports world on a necessary hiatus to combat the spread of the coronavirus, the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series exists in place of actual NASCAR events.
  • Each race in the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series consists of 35 drivers and all races are broadcast by FOX Sports.

Erik Jones, driver of the No. 20 Craftsman Toyota Camry:    

“I honestly did not know how I’d do in last week’s race at Homestead. It had been forever since I last went iRacing, so it was like I was a rookie all over again. But things came to me fairly quickly, although I’m still nowhere near where I want to be. Performance aside, I think we all came away from that race impressed with how the entire industry rallied around it, and fans seemed to like it too. Now we’re on big FOX this Sunday, so even more people will be watching. Obviously, that’s good, but it does kind of ramp up the pressure. You want to do well. Even though it’s a simulation, we’re all competitors and we want to win. And it’s appropriate that I’ve got CRAFTSMAN on my Toyota Camry this Sunday at Texas. I moved into a new house this week and between putting furniture together, hanging stuff up and even fixing a few things that broke, if I wasn’t carrying a box I was carrying a screwdriver or a wrench. iRacing practice time took a backseat to the move, so I hope my limited practice time doesn’t show up in the race.”

  • Jones started 25th and finished 10th in last week’s eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series race at Homestead.
  • Jones dusted off his iRacing skills for Homestead, as the race marked his return to iRacing after a lengthy layoff. In a tweet before the race, Jones said, “The last time I went iRacing, there was a solar eclipse. So, yeah, two rare events. Don’t miss this one!” For those wondering, the last solar eclipse in the U.S. happened on Aug. 21, 2017. Jones was 24 races into his rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series.
  • In actual NASCAR Cup Series racing at Texas, Jones has three top-five and five top-10 finishes in seven career starts.
  • Jones’ best Texas finish is fourth, earned three straight times (April 2018, November 2018 and March 2019.)
  • In Jones’ last five starts at Texas, he has finished in the top-10 each time.
  • Jones is a three-time Xfinity Series winner at Texas. He won in his first Xfinity Series start at Texas on April 10, 2015. Jones then swept Texas’ 2017 slate of Xfinity Series races.
  • Jones has six career Xfinity Series starts at Texas and has never finished lower than fourth. And he’s qualified on the front row in every start except one, when he qualified third for the November 2015 race.
  • Jones is also a Truck Series winner at Texas. His third and most recent Truck Series start at Texas came in November 2015 and it ended in victory lane. It was Jones’ seventh career Truck Series win. Jones has only made two Truck Series starts since – one in 2016 and one in 2018. He scored top-10s in both.
Views: 449
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KYLE BUSCH eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Homestead Advance

by Mike
KYLE BUSCH eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Homestead Advance
Details:
 

• Event: O’Reilly Auto Parts 125 eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series
• Time/Date: 1 p.m. EDT on Sunday, March 29
• Location: Virtual Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
• Distance: 125 laps (187.5 miles)

 

Where to Watch:
 

• FOX network

•  Announcers: Jeff Gordon, Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds, with in-race commentary from Clint Bowyer.

• FS1 (DIRECTV Channel 219 and Dish Channel 150)

• FOX Sports Go app

• FOX Sports Racing for fans in Canada

 

Overview:
 

• The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series is an exhibition esports series featuring a collection of actual racecar drivers from the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series.

• The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series kicked off last Sunday at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway. Texas Motor Speedway serves as the second race of the series. The Pro Invitational Series is designed to emulate emulating the original 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule from week to week.

• With the sports world on a necessary hiatus to combat the spread of the coronavirus, the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series exists for the drivers to have a bit of fun until the resumption of their respective series schedules.

• Each race in the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series will consist of 35 drivers.

 

 

KYLE BUSCH, Driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Camry in the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series:
How was your first iRacing experience last week?

“It was quite interesting last week. Ty Gibbs offered me up his rig because I did not have one and I was over at his place last weekend running on his rig. I made some phone calls this week to see who had one since I’m hoping after maybe six weeks we can get back to the racetrack and do what we do each week and I won’t really need to have one. So I’m going on the borrowed train right now for my rig.”

 

Who has been helping you out and what are you using for a rig?

“I got the sim guys over to my house to set one up. Last week, I had to drive 45 minutes over to Ty’s to practice and then 45 minutes back. So now, after we put Brexton (Busch, son) to bed, I can go down there and start working on getting better. Texas seems like it’s going to be a heck of a lot more simple than Homestead was as far as the driving aspect. You just have to hit your marks in turns one and two and get back to the gas and turns three and four, which are going to be wide open. Happy to have Interstate Batteries on board with us this week. They have been a part of iRacing since the beginning with Joe Gibbs Racing, so they’ve been a big supporter of JGR’s regular eNASCAR team. Everyone’s doing it – it’s the hot thing to do – and it was certainly fun to do last weekend to help everyone forget about everything that is happening in the real world. Everyone seems to enjoy it. A lot of guys are getting a little more serious about it and everyone is spending more time, so I figured if I’m going to stop running 30th, I’m going to need to get some more laps (laughing).”

 
Busch Homestead Invitational Notes:
• This will be Busch’s second ever iRacing start in a virtual NASCAR Cup Series race.

 

• This is not Interstate Batteries’ first foray into the world of eNASCAR, as the company was the first partner to join Joe Gibbs Racing’s eSports effort last year in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series. For 2020, Interstate Batteries is a weekly sponsor on the No. 18 Toyota driven by Graham Bolin in the regular iRacing Series. Not only was Interstate Batteries the founding sponsor of JGR back in 1992, it was the first to join JGR’s iRacing and NASCAR Heat teams beginning in its inaugural season in 2019.

 

• In addition to Interstate’s extensive involvement in iRacing, Busch’s Rowdy Energy Drink is a sponsor on the No. 51 Toyota driven by Malik Ray in the weekly eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series for JGR.

 

• Last weekend, ARCA Menards Series driver Ty Gibbs helped Busch get up to speed in his iRacing rig as Busch had never tried iRacing until practice the day prior to the first iRacing Pro Invitational race last Sunday at virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway. This week, Busch has had a rig brought to his house and has been busy practicing for Sunday at virtual Texas. William Hartman, Busch’s engineer on his regular No. 18 Toyota Camry Cup Series car, also helped Busch last weekend and will serve as crew chief for this weekend. In addition to Hartman, Busch’s real-life spotter Tony Hirschman is setting up to spot Busch on Sunday from his home in Pennsylvania.

 

• In actual NASCAR Cup Series racing on the 1.5-mile Texas oval, Busch has three wins, 12 top-five finishes and 15 top-10s in 28 starts.

Views: 473
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KYLE BUSCH eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Homestead Advance

by Mike
KYLE BUSCH eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Homestead Advance
Details:
 

• Event:  eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series
• Time/Date:  1:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, March 22
• Location:  Virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
• Distance:  100 laps (150 miles)

 

Where to Watch:
 

• FS1 (DIRECTV Channel 219 and Dish Channel 150)

■  Announcers: Jeff Gordon, Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds, with in-race commentary from Clint Bowyer.

 

• FOX Sports Go app

 

Overview:
 

• The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series is an exhibition esports series featuring a collection of actual racecar drivers from the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series.

• While the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series kicks off on Sunday at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway, it will be a multi-week series emulating the original 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule.

• With the sports world on a necessary hiatus to combat the spread of the coronavirus, the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series exists for the drivers to have a bit of fun until the return of their respective series.

• Each race in the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series will consist of 35 drivers.

 

KYLE BUSCH, Driver of the No. 18 M&M’S Camry in the eNASCAR IRacing Pro Invitational Series:
 

You got into the iRacing simulator for the first time this afternoon (Saturday). What did you learn and who is helping you out?

 

“I’ve never done iRacing before and I don’t even have a setup. Fortunately, Ty Gibbs has a setup that I was able to practice on this afternoon for the first time. The biggest thing I learned is that lap-one, cold tires is “ice,” then it feels good for about 10 laps, and then the car gets really tight. Since you can’t change the setup, it’s really going to be tricky to figure out the balance of me fixing that. Thankfully, Ty Gibbs, ‘Boris’ (Bryan Cook, JGR Chief Digital Officer) and my Cup car engineer William Hartman, are big into iRacing and they were also helping me learn this afternoon – trying to get all the basics down of practicing pitting, restarts and everything I need to know. You aren’t going to learn it all in a few hours. These guys that are really good at iRacing do it on a regular basis, they’ve done a ton of work to get as good as they are. It’s cool to get our virtual M&M’S Camry out there and have some fun while trying to learn a new trade.”

 

 

• This will be Busch’s first official iRacing start in a virtual NASCAR Cup Series race.

 

• Busch’s Rowdy Energy Drink is a sponsor on the No. 51 Toyota driven by Malik Ray in the weekly eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series for Joe Gibbs Racing with Interstate Batteries as a sponsor on the No. 18 Toyota driven by Graham Bolin.

 

• In actual NASCAR Cup Series racing at Homestead, Busch has two victories, including last year’s season-finale when he clinched his second title in NASCAR’s top series.

Views: 509
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FedEx Racing Express Facts – Virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway

by Mike
FedEx Racing Express Facts – Virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway

Denny Hamlin

#11 FedEx Express Toyota

Joe Gibbs Racing

 

Virtual Race Info:

Race: eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series event

Date/Time: Sunday, March 22/1:30 p.m. ET

Race Distance: 100 laps/150 miles

Track Shape: Oval

Track Length: 1.5 miles

Banking: 18-20 degrees

Express Notes:

 

New Series: With the on-track action of the NASCAR Cup Series postponed for the next several weeks, Denny Hamlin is among the drivers slated to compete in the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series, a simulation-style eSports program, with the inaugural event on Sunday, March 22, at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Hamlin Conversation – Virtual Homestead:

How much will this Sunday’s iRace feel like real racing?

“The simulators are pretty realistic. We’ve all used them to help ourselves improve on some of the tracks and road courses over the years. It will feel just like I’m turning laps at Homestead-Miami Speedway.”

Obviously, a virtual race doesn’t replace on-track racing, but do you feel like this will help boost the mood of race fans?

“We sure hope so. You can’t replace the real thing, but fans will still be able to sit down and watch a race on TV on Sunday afternoon. The cars will all look realistic. I’ll be racing my FedEx Express Toyota, which looks just like the real race car. And even though it’s a virtual race, I’ll still be proud to represent FedEx. They’ve got nearly half a million team members working hard right now to keep critical shipments moving in a challenging time.”

Views: 528
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