The coronavirus outbreak has caused leagues all around the world to either be shut down temporarily or still be active but with limited people in attendance. Some leagues have found solutions on how to entertain their fans for the time being. MLB and NBA made their streaming services free for fans to watch full-length games on various devices. But one company took things in another direction this past weekend.
Denny Hamlin won the first-ever eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series race at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday. And yes, it was the real Denny Hamlin. NASCAR drivers raced from their own homes on iRacing, a simulation racing video game, with their own hardware like steering wheels, pedals and ultra-wide monitors to make it feel like they were really on the racetrack. The race was broadcasted on Fox Sports 1 (FS1) with real NASCAR commentary from Mike Joy and Jeff Gordon. Drivers gave interviews in the middle of the race and talked about the experience. They all seemed to enjoy it and had a great time. But it was a big adjustment, even for 7-time champion Jimmie Johnson.
“I’m learning as I go here, even as far as trying to get signed in in time to start the race,” Johnson said. “It is quite different to say the least.”
The race itself was a fun and chaotic mess. A total of 9 caution periods for 42 laps on a 100-lap race. However, viewers seemed to enjoy every minute of it. The race garnered 903,000 viewers – the highest viewership number ever for an eSports event. The event was such a success that NASCAR is planning on doing more iRacing events every weekend until real racing returns.
Each racer participated in a real racing simulator equipped like an actual race car.
The drivers speak very highly of iRacing. They find the adjustment from a real stock car to a computer to be seamless. The experience is like no other and it is certainly a lot more than just playing another video game.
“If you were to play NBA and you want to get better, you don’t go play [NBA 2K] because it’s a different skillset,” Hamlin said on the Barstool Sports podcast Rubbin’ Is Racing on Thursday. “But in racing, the inputs are the same. It’s a steering wheel, it’s a gas, it’s a brake, it’s a clutch. And you’re trying to time all of them. So, the skillset is the exact same. So that’s why you see guys like Clint [Bowyer] – who put in a little bit of time – all of a sudden are really, really fast.”
The coronavirus has caused the viewing audience to be isolated in their homes and go on their televisions and computers to find other forms of entertainment, eSports is one of them. As video games are more popular now than they ever have been before, leagues like the NBA and the MLS have started to make strides in the virtual world with the NBA 2K and FIFA series’ in recent years. But NASCAR was ahead of the pack.
They partnered with iRacing in 2010 to form the NASCAR iRacing Series. As the league got more popular over the last decade, the prize money increased. The 2020 season saw the prize pool go up to $300,000 and some races televised on the NBC Sports Network.
The next iRacing Series race takes places on Sunday, March 29th, at the virtual Texas Motor Speedway. The question of when sports will return to its full capacity remains unanswered. But NASCAR seems to have this dark period taken care of for the time being.
Images courtesy of NASCAR
