The success of iRacing in 2020 has NASCAR planning to do more with it in 2021.getty images
NASCAR’s move into the virtual world of 2020 played such an important part of getting the sport through this year that the sanctioning body is planning to expand the program into 2021.
When the sports world shut down en masse on that fateful week in mid-March, NASCAR executives, drivers and some top officials from Fox Sports and iRacing instantly started collaborating on what turned into the Pro Invitational Series. Within a week’s time, more than a dozen NASCAR drivers had agreed to run virtual races on the iRacing platform, with the event televised on Fox Sports’ channels.
By the end of what turned into a more than monthlong series, Fox had secured the distinction of airing the six most-watched esports events in U.S. linear TV history, with the races averaging around 1 million viewers on Fox Sports 1 and Fox.
1M
Approximate average viewers on Fox Sports’ channels for the iRacing series, the most ever for an esports property.
The move to go virtual accomplished several goals: It kept hardcore NASCAR fans distracted with a substitute form of racing entertainment while the sport’s brain trust was figuring out how to return to real action; it kept its broadcast partner Fox happy because the iRacing events were one of the only live sporting competitions it aired at the time; and it elevated the sport’s nascent esports initiatives and attracted both wider mainstream and niche gaming media attention.
The esports success also helped lead to Fox, ESPN and NBC experimenting with other forms of virtual racing including with Formula One, IndyCar and dirt track racing. It led to significant growth for the iRacing platform, which is based in Massachusetts and owned by Boston Red Sox owner John Henry.
“To say that 2020 was a good year for iRacing would be a dramatic understatement,” said Steve Myers, executive vice president of iRacing. “You never want a pandemic as a reason your company’s success goes to the next level, but we have worked very hard for 16 years to be in this position.”
NASCAR has indicated that it will incorporate iRacing with real-life drivers more often. With a number of race weekends being limited to just Sundays next year due to the pandemic, coverage on Friday and Saturday that would typically have practice races or qualifying races will be supplemented with iRacing events. Sources say that this is one tool that the sport is looking at using in 2021 to help fill broadcast windows, although NASCAR has yet to formally announce this news.
