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…)
It was only one week into the popular and highly competitive eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series, and Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott knew he wanted a high-tech, high performance sim racing rig.
| 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. |
Race: O’Reilly Auto Parts 125 (Round 2)
Series: eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series
Date: Sunday, March 29, 2020
Location: Virtual Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Distance: 125 laps (187.5 miles)
Result: Started 9th, Finished 33rd (Accident, completed 110 of 130 laps)
Winner: Timmy Hill of MBM Motorsports
Note: Race extended five laps past its scheduled 125-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.
Daniel Suárez, Driver of the No. 96 CommScope Toyota Camry:
“I think it was a lot of fun. I definitely learned a lot. My very first time to try iRacing ever was Thursday. So, I feel like we adapted quickly and we had some good speed in our CommScope Toyota. We actually raced way better than I was expecting. We qualified in the top-10, we raced in the top-10, top-five. We were passing a lot of cars and I thought we could finish in the top-five after the (final pit stop) cycle. And then we got wrecked because (Ty Dillon) had old tires or I’m not sure what. But the race itself was very good, very fun. I just wish we were a little more consistent with the cautions because sometimes somebody wrecks and there’s no caution, sometimes somebody just goes through the grass and the caution comes out. Other than that, I’m really looking forward to next week. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Notes:
· 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 March 22 at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway. 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.
FORT WORTH, Texas (March 29, 2020) – It was another drama-filled ending in Sunday’s eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series race from the virtual Texas Motor Speedway, as Chris Buescher led the field of Roush Fenway drivers with an 18th-place run.
| 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. |
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By Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Timmy Hill and Garrett Smithley did not hoist any virtual trophies at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway but they certainly finished Sunday’s inaugural eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational with a real smile and very real sense of accomplishment.
| Details: |
| • Event: eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series
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| 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.
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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. • 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.
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| 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. |
