After a disappointing finish in the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang at the virtual Texas Motor Speedway last Sunday, Matt DiBenedetto now turns his attention to the virtual Bristol Motor Speedway, where he’ll pilot the No. 21 REESE/Draw-Tite Mustang in the third round of the NASCAR Pro Invitational iRacing Series. (more…)
| Details: |
| • Event: eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series • Winner: Timmy Hill of MBM Motorsports in Overtime • Note: Race extended five laps past its scheduled 125-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.
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| Kyle Busch Result: |
| • Kyle Busch (Started 19th, Finished 17th / Running, completed 130 of 130 laps)
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| Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry: |
| You got into an early accident, but you were able to recover and worked your way back into the top-10 late in the race. Can you take us through your race?
“The early wreck, I don’t know what happened there. I was just rolling down the straightaway – I was on the outside – and I just got clipped by the 12 (Ryan Blaney) and spun out and crashed and killed everything and we kept rolling under green because they didn’t throw a yellow for that one. So we rolled around to try and stay on the lead lap and wait for another caution that they would throw a yellow for. That didn’t happen until we went a lap down. But the caution came out and we were able to pit and use our reset and get some tires on it and then we got the wavearound, which was good. That kind of set up the run to the front. We drove from the back, I don’t know, 25th or 26th, all the way back up into the top-10. There was that one long run with a green-flag stop. We had a good roll, we were mowing some guys down and had a fast car on the long runs. There at the end we got caught up in a wreck again. I came off of (turn) two and was following the 43 (Bubba Wallace) and thought I saw a couple of guys get crossed up down low. So I wasn’t sure if the bottom was going to check up, so I was trying to stay high so I could see it and it looked like it was all good and I was going to go back down to the bottom. And when we were entering (turn) three, the 8 car (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) stuck it in there on the bottom on me and we ended up in the wall. There was a big wreck in front of us, too, on that same corner when we got back rolling again, and we were going through a couple of those guys and they did another yellow. We didn’t have a crash repair, so we fixed our car as best as we could fix it to finish the race. That was kind of all there was to it.”
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| Notes: |
| • This was Busch’s second iRacing Pro Invitational start.
• In addition to being the founding sponsor of Joe Gibbs Racing back in 1992, Interstate Batteries was also the founding sponsor of Gibbs Gaming and is a sponsor of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota in the weekly eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series.
• 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 kicked off last weekend at virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway and continued at Texas this afternoon, it is a multiweek 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. |
| 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)
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| 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 Racing for fans in Canada
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| 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 and 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.
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| 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.
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| Daniel Suárez, Driver of the No. 96 CommScope Toyota Camry |
| “I don’t even know what to expect, to be honest. Obviously, I think we’re going to have some fun, but at the same time I’m very competitive and I want to do well. I’ve never done iRacing before, I’ve never had an account before and I really didn’t know much about iRacing. I had an old GT25 simulator that I bought used about 10 years ago to race on the PlayStation. As for iRacing, I have no experience before, but for me, that’s not an excuse. I’ve done a lot on other simulators, like the TRD (Toyota Racing Development) simulator, that might help some. But this is way different, it’s its own animal. iRacing is still very realistic and does an amazing job, but it’s still a game. The simulator we use at TRD, that’s not a game, but a lot of things about what iRacing does is very impressive. I borrowed a rig from Toyota and hopefully I can use it for as many races as I need to. A kid named Eric who’s a professional iRacing guy, he’s been helping me with the things I knew I was going to need help with. He’s been great, and he’s going to be my spotter. The whole point is to have some fun and be competitive and get better and give the fans some excitement, like we saw in the first race last week. I don’t know how long this is going to last, but hopefully we’ll be able to have some fun and keep getting better. Overall, I think it’s good for our sport. It’s one advantage we have against some other sports, that we can do stuff like this. Soccer, basketball, American football, they can’t do it like this. I feel it’s fun. We just have to take it for what it is.”
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| Daniel Suárez Texas Invitational Notes: |
| • This will be Suárez’s first start in the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series and first-ever iRacing event.
• In actual NASCAR Cup Series racing at Texas, Suárez has six career starts with best finishes of third in each of last year’s two races – his only career top-fives and top-10s on the 1.5-mile oval.
• In NASCAR Xfinity Series competition at Texas, Suárez has five career starts with a best finish of fifth the fall 2016 race en route to that year’s series championship. He had another top-10 finish of sixth in the fall 2015 race.
• Suarez finished second in both 2015 races in his first two career NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series at Texas. He added a fifth-place finish in his only other Truck Series start there in the fall 2016 race. |
Denny Hamlin
#11 “Thank you FedEx team members” Toyota
Joe Gibbs Racing
Virtual Race Info:
Race: O’Reilly Auto Parts 125
Date/Time: Sunday, March 29/1 p.m. ET
Race Distance: 125 laps/187.5 miles
Track Shape: Oval
Track Length: 1.5 miles
Banking: 24 degrees
Express Notes:
eNASCAR Homestead Recap: Denny Hamlin took the FedEx Express Toyota to a virtual Victory Lane for the first time Sunday, winning the inaugural eNASCAR Pro Invitational event at a simulated Homestead-Miami Speedway. A barefoot Hamlin, who logged hours of practice time for the work-from-home event, started the race ninth from the seat of his simulator. He led 14 laps during the middle of the race and used a fresh set of virtual tires to surge back to the front in the closing laps. As sports-hungry fans watched the exhibition event unfold live on FS1, Hamlin passed Dale Earnhardt Jr. coming off Turn 4 of the 1.5-mile virtual oval to take the checkered flag.
eNASCAR Texas Preview: After a successful first week on the iRacing platform, the eNASCAR Pro Invitational Series will take a virtual trip to Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday for 125 laps around the high-speed, 1.5-mile oval. Hamlin took the FedEx Toyota to Victory Lane at the real Ft. Worth track one year ago and is logging plenty of practice hours in hopes of making a virtual trip to Victory Lane for a second consecutive week.
FedEx “Thank You” Paint Scheme: For Sunday’s eNASCAR event at virtual Texas, the #11 car will pay tribute to the 475,000 FedEx team members who are working to deliver shipments around the world safely and securely during the COVID-19 pandemic. A special “Thank You” FedEx paint scheme will recognize all the FedEx team members who are working hard to deliver critical medical supplies and equipment to the healthcare community as well as basic goods to people at home.
Hamlin Conversation – Virtual Texas:
FedEx has been very involved in COVID-19 relief efforts. You must feel free very proud to run this special paint scheme.
“Absolutely. They’ve got nearly half a million team members around the world who deserve a big ‘thank you’ right now. They’ve been working hard every day to make sure critical shipments are being delivered during a difficult time. It felt good to go out and get a win for them last weekend, and I hope we can do it again this Sunday in this special virtual FedEx Toyota.”
Do you think the participation and the competition level will go up after the first week of iRacing in this invitational series?
“You know, I don’t think you’re going to get everyone every week. That’s going to be a challenge. But you’re also going to have new guys coming in. There’s probably a lot of Cup guys that didn’t participate that saw this and were like, ‘I need to get back in this.’ Jimmie Johnson, I’m sure, is going to put more time in, Joey Logano, those guys. If you put the time in, you can get some of the benefits of running up front and you start to really like it.”
| DATE | EVENT | LOCATION | START | FINISH | LAPS | STATUS | LED |
| Mar. 22 | Dixie Vodka 150 | Homestead | 9 | 1 | 100/100 | Running | 14 |
| Averages/Totals | N/A | 1 | 100% | 14 | |||
Details:
Where to Watch:
DYK?:
Overview:
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.”
| Details: |
| • Event: O’Reilly Auto Parts 125 eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series
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| 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 Racing for fans in Canada
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| 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.
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| 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. |
| 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)
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| 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 Racing for fans in Canada
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| 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.
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| 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 and 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.
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| Clint Bowyer, Driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang: |
| “We’ve had a partnership with iRacing on our dirt late model team for several years and we’ve run an iRacing team since last year. I’ve always jumped on it from time to time even though a lot of people don’t know that. My favorite thing to do on iRacing is not my day job. I came from dirt racing, so I love to get on there and burn laps on a dirt late model, a sprint car or midget. Heck, I’ve even done off-road truck racing. Those are my favorite things to do. A lot of my fans and peers get on and run Cup races and tracks we race on every week. For me, iRacing gives me a chance to drive something I’ve always wanted to drive, but never had the chance. That’s why I love iRacing, and I love the fact that this Pro Invitational Series has made more people aware of iRacing. Now, that means more eyeballs on us this Sunday, so I need to step up my game and put my Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang up front.”
• Bowyer started 11th and finished 16th in last week’s eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series race at Homestead.
• Bowyer considers himself a hobby iRacer. Last Sunday’s race at Homestead was his first official iRacing start in a virtual NASCAR Cup Series race.
• Bowyer’s eponymous iRacing team competes in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series with drivers Brandon Kettelle and Brian Schoenberg, and Bowyer’s dirt late model team has been sponsored by iRacing for several years.
• In actual NASCAR Cup Series racing at Texas, Bowyer has four top-five and 12 top-10 finishes in 28 career starts.
• Bowyer’s best Texas finish is second, earned twice (April 2011 and March 2019).
• Anheuser-Busch, the country’s largest sponsor of live sports and entertainment, is redirecting it sports and entertainment investments to its non-profit partners to respond to the coronavirus public health crisis. As part of a $5 million donation to the American Red Cross, Anheuser-Busch, alongside its sports partners, will identify available arenas and stadiums to be used for temporary blood drive centers. As part of the donation, Anheuser-Busch is donating media air time to the Red Cross in support of its public service announcements. To learn more about how to attend a blood drive, visit RedCross.org. Additionally, Anheuser-Busch is using its supply and logistics network to produce and distribute bottles of hand sanitizer. The hand sanitizer will be utilized at Red Cross blood donation centers and to support emergency shelters for future relief efforts.
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| Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 98 Ford Performance Racing School/HighPoint.com Ford Mustang: |
| “It obviously hasn’t been the greatest time for anybody right now, so it’s cool to have a way to keep your mind off of it. There isn’t really anything on TV and there are no other sporting events going on, so to be the only sport that can still continue, it’s been really cool to see everybody embrace it. When the idea first came out to run iRacing on FOX, I think people were curious to see how it was going to go and concerned that it wouldn’t be like ‘real life’, but it’s as close as we can get to it. It fills that void for the racing we don’t have right now, and it’s an awesome way to keep us occupied, keep the fans involved, and the sponsors as well. And maybe we’re opening the sport up to people that normally wouldn’t pay attention. It’s been really cool to see how many fans have gotten behind it.
“It’s been quite a bit different going from the Xfinity car to the Cup car, even though it’s iRacing. It’s realistic enough that even in simulation the cars don’t drive similarly at all. In the Cup Series car, there’s a lot more on throttle time and a lot less brake, so Texas will be a lot of the same. We’ll be on the gas a lot and drafting down the straightaway. They’re different, but it still takes the same characteristics to go fast and win, and I got that part figured out last weekend at Homestead. Texas is kind of an unknown to me. iRacing just updated the track a few weeks ago with the repaved surface and changes to the banking, so I don’t even have any laps around there. It’ll be a learning curve for sure, and it isn’t the best feeling to know I have to race my way into the main event. We saw last weekend that anything can happen to keep some of the better guys from being in the race. That being said, I feel good about our chances to run up front again with the Ford Performance Racing School/HighPoint.com Mustang.”
• Briscoe started sixth and finished fourth in last week’s eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series race at Homestead.
• Briscoe is a regular iRacer, but mainly in the Xfinity Series. Prior to Homestead, The Replacements 100 March 17 at the virtual Atlanta Motor Speedway was Briscoe’s most recent iRacing start in a virtual NASCAR Cup Series race.
• In actual racing, Briscoe has never competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. He is currently in his second full season of Xfinity Series racing.
• Briscoe has three Xfinity Series starts at Texas with a best finish of fourth, earned last March.
• Briscoe also has two Truck Series starts at Texas with a best finish of second, earned in June 2017. And when the Truck Series returned to Texas that November, Briscoe finished fourth.
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| About Stewart-Haas eSports: |
| NASCAR is the ultimate test of driver acumen and mechanical know-how, where teams scrutinize every detail in a never-ending quest for speed. Stewart-Haas Racing has thrived in this environment, winning races and championships to firmly establish its presence in NASCAR. Stewart-Haas eSports emulates these efforts in the virtual world, where sim technology provides a visceral experience that amplifies the grit and determination of NASCAR drivers in the real world. Stewart-Haas eSports is a natural extension of Stewart-Haas Racing, where competition and simulation are one. For more information, please visit us online at www.StewartHaasRacing.com and follow on Twitter @SHR_eSports.
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| About Stewart-Haas Racing: |
| Stewart-Haas Racing is the title-winning NASCAR team co-owned by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation – the largest CNC machine tool builder in North America. The Kannapolis, North Carolina-based organization has won two NASCAR Cup Series titles, one NASCAR Xfinity Series championship and more than 70 NASCAR races, including such crown-jewel events as the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400 and Southern 500. For more information, please visit us online at www.StewartHaasRacing.com, on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/ |
(by Bob Pockrass for Fox Sports)
That was fun Sunday. A great distraction.
The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series race on Sunday, won by Denny Hamlin, was cool to see, a great way to spend a couple hours and to try to forget the nervousness of a country plagued by the COVID-19 pandemic. (more…)
iRacing Season Simulcast on FOX, FS1 and the FOX Sports App Beginning Sunday from Virtual Texas Motor Speedway
Inaugural FOX NASCAR iRACING Event Draws More Than 900,000 Viewers
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Last Sunday, NASCAR, iRacing and FOX Sports teamed up to deliver the first-ever eNASCAR iRacing Pro invitational Series event. Today, FOX Sports is committing to coverage of the remainder of the season, beginning Sunday, March 29, at 1:00 PM ET live from virtual Texas Motor Speedway. Entitled FOX NASCAR iRACING, the races will be simulcast on the FOX broadcast network*, FS1 and the FOX Sports app. Races will be available in Canada through FOX Sports Racing.
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