The 2021 eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series is the second season of the

eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series was a series of ''iRacing'' sim racing events originally organized for NASCAR drivers to compete in after its 2020 seasons were put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Drivers from all of NASCAR's s ...

, a series of ''

iRacing ''iRacing'' is a subscription-based online racing simulation video game developed and published by iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations in 2008. All in-game sessions are hosted on the publisher's servers. The game simulates real world cars, tr ...

sim racing Simulated racing or racing simulation, commonly known as simply sim racing, are the collective terms for racing game software that attempts to accurately simulate auto racing, complete with real-world variables such as fuel usage, damage, tire ...

events originally organized for

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and h ...

drivers to compete in after its 2020 seasons were put on hold due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. After the success of the series, NASCAR decided to bring it back on a more permanent basis in 2021, although this time, the races, 10 in total, would be held on Wednesday nights at least once a month. Additionally, ''

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

'', which broadcast all of the races in the series in 2020, would be joined by ''

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

'', the other channel that broadcasts real-life NASCAR races, this season, with each channel airing five races apiece. Fox and NBC would choose the racetracks that their races would be on. The series began on March 24 with a race at the virtual version of dirt

Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway, is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Bristol is among the m ...

, The Saturday Night Thunder series of races for drivers in NASCAR's lower series did not return in 2021. However, before each race, at least 10 drivers from NASCAR's lower series were selected to be on a ballot for a fan vote for one starting spot in each eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series race.

Teams and drivers

Chartered teams

Complete schedule

Limited schedule

Non-chartered teams

Complete schedule

Limited schedule

Notes

Schedule

On January 26, 2021,

announced the dates of their five races, and four of the five tracks that they would be on. On March 24, NASCAR, iRacing, and Fox announced that the fifth race of Fox's schedule of races for the series would take place at an imaginary street course in the

Chicago Loop The Loop, one of Chicago's 77 designated community areas, is the central business district of the city and is the main section of Downtown Chicago. Home to Chicago's commercial core, it is the second largest commercial business district in Nort ...

in Downtown Chicago.

Races

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...
Dirt Race

Just like in the actual NASCAR Cup Series, all 36 chartered teams were given spots in the field, with four seats will be available to other teams. The drivers to take those four spots were chosen at the discretion of ''

NASCAR on Fox ''NASCAR on Fox'', also known as ''Fox NASCAR'', is the branding used for broadcasts of NASCAR races produced by Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports and have aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox television network in the United States s ...

''. However, they only filled two of those four spots, which were for

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, team owner, author, and an analyst for '' NASCAR on NBC''. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving ...

driving a No. 88 car for his team,

JR Motorsports JR Motorsports (pronounced "Junior Motorsports") is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, CARS Tour, and occasionally in the NASCAR Advance Auto Par ...

, and their color commentator, the retired driver

Clint Bowyer Clinton Edward Bowyer (born May 30, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and commentator for ''NASCAR on Fox''. He competed in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2005 to 2020, driving for Richard Childress Racing for eight ye ...

, driving a No. 79 car owned by himself, which was a Ford, the most recent manufacturer he had when he raced in the Cup Series. Also, the No. 4

Stewart-Haas Racing Stewart-Haas Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series. The team is co-owned by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champ ...

team of

Kevin Harvick Kevin Michael Harvick (born December 8, 1975) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing. Harvick is the 2014 Cup Series champi ...

(who declined to participate in this race) was replaced by the open team of the No. 37 for

JTG Daugherty Racing JTG Daugherty Racing (formerly ST Motorsports and JTG Racing) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team is owned by former advertising executive Tad Geschickter and his wife Jodi ...

driven by

Ryan Preece Ryan Jeffrey Preece (born October 25, 1990) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 41 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing. Preece previously competed in what is now t ...

, a client of Harvick's sports management agency. After outrage online that the MBM Motorsports No. 66 driven by

Timmy Hill Timothy G. Hill (born February 25, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 56 Toyota Tundra for his own team, Hill Motorsports and pa ...

, an open team in real-life Cup Series competition, was not invited to participate,

Austin Cindric Austin Louis Cindric (born September 2, 1998) is an American professional auto racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 2 Ford Mustang for Team Penske. Prior to competing in stock cars, Cindric raced with a v ...

, who was to drive the No. 2 for Team Penske in place of

Brad Keselowski Bradley Aaron Keselowski (; born February 12, 1984) is an American professional stock car racing driver, team owner, and entrepreneur. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 6 Ford Mustang for RFK Racing, a team he also ...

(who also declined to participate), decided to give up his seat to Hill. The popular underdog driver won the race at Texas in Season One. Fans were able to make the hashtag "#LetTimmyRace" trending on Twitter the day before and of the race in support of Hill to be in the race. Top ten finishers:

Talladega

After deciding not to participate in the Bristol Dirt iRacing event,

and

returned for this race. Because

Kurt Busch Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American professional auto racing driver. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. He is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and the ...

Chase Briscoe Chase David Wayne Briscoe (born December 15, 1994) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 14 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing. He also owns a World of Outlaws sprin ...

and Christopher Bell were at

Nashville Superspeedway Nashville Superspeedway is a motor racing complex located in Gladeville, Tennessee, United States (though the track has a Lebanon postal address), about southeast of Nashville. The track was built in 2001 and is currently hosting the Ally 40 ...

that day for a test, it was announced when the entry list was posted that Busch and Briscoe would not be participating and that Bell would participate if he could make it home in time, but if not, he would be replaced in his No. 20 by

Ty Gibbs Tyler Randal Gibbs (born October 4, 2002) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 54 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. Gibbs was the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series champio ...

. On the day of the race, it was announced that Briscoe would be entering the race after all since the tire test finished earlier than anticipated. However, Kurt Busch still did not enter. Any chartered team in real-life Cup Series competition who entered the race was given a spot in the field (35 of 36 did- the only one that did not enter was Kurt Busch's No. 1 car). To fill the remaining spots in the 40 car field, Fox gave provisionals to Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Clint Bowyer again, a third one to Keelan Harvick, the 8-year-old son of Kevin Harvick, who competed in a No. 62 car (his car number in go-kart racing). After fans were frustrated that

's No. 66 car for MBM Motorsports was not given a starting spot in the field for the Bristol dirt race, it was given a spot for this race. The final spot in the field was determined by a fan vote of drivers in the lower series of NASCAR who are experienced iRacers. Part-time Xfinity and Truck Series driver Jesse Iwuji won the fan vote. Iwuji, who is also a

United States Navy Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Se ...

officer, competed in the race from

Dahlgren Hall The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

at the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of ...

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...

. The other drivers on the ballot in the fan vote were

Justin Allgaier Justin M. Allgaier (born June 6, 1986) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports. He is the 2008 ARCA Re/Max Series champion an ...

Josh Berry Joshua W. Berry (born October 22, 1990) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports. Berry has also competed for JRM in late model ...

Landon Cassill Landon Douglas Cassill (born July 7, 1989) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 10 Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing. Early career Cassill was born in Cedar Rap ...

, Rajah Caruth,

Noah Gragson Noah Quinn Gragson (born July 15, 1998) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Petty GMS Motorsports. He previously drove full-time in the ...

Austin Hill Austin Edward Hill (born April 21, 1994) is an American professional stock car racing driver and former team owner. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing and part-tim ...

, Nick Sanchez,

Ryan Truex Ryan M. Truex (born March 18, 1992) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing. Truex's older brother Martin was the 2017 ...

, and Ryan Vargas.

James Davison James D. Davison (born 28 August 1986) is an Australian professional racing driver who drives an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in the Blancpain GT World Challenge America. He has also competed in the NTT IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, and NASC ...

started on the pole and led 61 of 70 laps, but he was passed by

on the last lap, who went on to win the race, and then completed the sweep by winning the real race at Talladega that weekend. This was the first race in both years of the series without

(since Harvick participated in this race and that Preece's team does not have a charter in 2021), as well as the first in which William Byron did not lead any laps. Top ten finishers:

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington under ...

The fan vote returned for the race at Darlington, with all ten drivers (including Iwuji) from the first fan vote back on the ballot and the additions of Derek Kraus,

Alex Labbé Alex Labbé (born April 29, 1993) is a Canadian professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 36/90/92 Chevrolet Camaros for DGM Racing. The 2017 NASCAR Pinty's Series champion, he ...

, and

. Iwuji would win the fan vote again, which put him in the field for the second straight race. However, since

Daniel Suárez Daniel Alejandro Suárez Garza (born January 7, 1992) is a Mexican professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Trackhouse Racing Team. He previously drove in ...

went back to using the No. 99, his usual number, Iwuji used the No. 87 (B. J. McLeod Motorsports' No. 78 backward).

Bobby Labonte Robert Allen Labonte (born May 8, 1964) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and current analyst for ''NASCAR on Fox''. He also currently competes full-time in the Superstar Racing Experience, driving the No. 18 car. ...

participated in this race instead of

, and with Labonte also being a Fox commentator, he raced in the simulator in the Fox studio instead of Bowyer. 35 of 36 chartered teams entered, with the only one skipping the race being

Ryan Blaney Ryan Michael Blaney (born December 31, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 12 Ford Mustang for Team Penske. He is the son of former NASCAR driver Dave Blane ...

and his Penske No. 12 car, due to him being at

Texas Motor Speedway Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The reconfigured track measures with banked 20° in turns 1 and 2 and banked 2 ...

for a tire test on the same day. On the heels of the announcement of NASCAR's

Next Gen car The Next Gen car, originally known as the Gen-7 car, is the common name for the racecar that is currently in use in the NASCAR Cup Series; its use starting in 2022. A further evolution of the Generation 6 car, the Next Gen features improved aero ...

earlier in the day of this race, iRacing and NASCAR debuted the virtual version of the car in this race.

started on the pole and led the opening laps before being passed by William Byron, who led the most laps. After Byron was involved in a late-race crash,

Erik Jones Erik Benjamin Jones (born May 30, 1996) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Petty GMS. His nicknames are EJ, his initials, and That J ...

passed

with two laps to go and held on to score the victory. Top ten finishers:

Circuit of the Americas Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 FIA-specification motor racing track and facilities located within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Austin, Texas, in the United States. The facility is home to the Formula One United States Gran ...

For the fourth round of the iRacing Pro Invitational Series, Iwuji won his second straight fan vote. Bowyer returned to the Fox booth simulator run this race after being replaced by Labonte in the previous race at Darlington. On the heels of making his Cup Series debut in the real race at COTA,

road course ringer In NASCAR, a road course ringer, also known as road course specialist, road course expert, or a road runner, is a non-NASCAR driver who is hired by a NASCAR Cup Series or NASCAR Xfinity Series team to race specifically on road courses. , current ...

Kyle Tilley Kyle R. Tilley (born 16 February 1988) is a British professional racing driver. He mainly competes in historic motorsport and sports car racing such as the Historic Formula One Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship; in IMSA, he drives in t ...

replaced

B. J. McLeod Darwin Benjamin Jerreld "B. J." McLeod Jr. (born November 17, 1983) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner of B. J. McLeod Motorsports and Live Fast Motorsports. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving ...

in the No. 78 for

Live Fast Motorsports Live Fast Motorsports is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series. It is owned by B. J. McLeod, Matt Tifft, and Joe Falk. The team currently fields the No. 78 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ...

; the same was the case in the real-life race.

Kaz Grala Kaz Edward Grala ( ; born December 29, 1998) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 26 Toyota Supra for Sam Hunt Racing. The Boston native is the youngest NASCAR ...

was added to the list of drivers on the ballot in the fan vote, joining the same 13 drivers that were on it previously. All 36 chartered teams were entered. Unlike each of the previous races, none skipped this race. Davison scored his second pole of the season and led all 32 laps to win the race, while Alfredo finished second for the second race in a row. Top ten finishers:

Chicago Street Course

won his second straight race in the series, and did it with a 56 second lead over the second-place car (his Rick Ware Racing teammate

Josh Bilicki Joshua M. Bilicki (born June 3, 1995) is an American professional stock car racing driver who competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 78 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Live Fast Motorsports. He has also previously competed in the ...

in the No. 52). It was Davison's 3rd pole of the season and the second consecutive race in which he led every lap. Davison also became the second driver in series history to win back-to-back races, joining William Byron as the only drivers to do so.

drove a Ford in this race instead of a Toyota. Jesse Iwuji won the fan vote for the fourth time, remaining the only driver to have won the fan vote in the races that it has been offered. Fox only gave out one promoter's provisional for this race (for

), as

did not participate in this race. However, unlike at Darlington, Bowyer did still appear on the broadcast, replacing

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Moto ...

as a color commentator. Gordon was not on the broadcast for this race. William Byron drove on Bowyer's simulator in the Fox studio instead of at home in this race. As this race ended up being the finale of the Invitational Series, it meant that

would finish the championship in 1st place. Top ten finishers:

References

External links

{{expand section, date=May 2021
eNASCAR Official website
eNASCAR iRacing

Teams and drivers

Chartered teams

Complete schedule

Limited schedule

Non-chartered teams

Complete schedule

Limited schedule

Notes

Schedule

Races

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ... Dirt Race

Talladega

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington under ...

Circuit of the Americas Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 FIA-specification motor racing track and facilities located within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Austin, Texas, in the United States. The facility is home to the Formula One United States Gran ...

Chicago Street Course

See also

References

External links

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...
Dirt Race