The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series was 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 ...

. Drivers from all of NASCAR's series competed in races, including Hall of Fame drivers

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 ...

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. ...

, and

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 ...

. Originally supposed to be a one-time event (the first race of the 2020 season at Homestead-Miami, it quickly became a weekly series, and later included the Saturday Night Thunder series of races for drivers in the lower series of NASCAR. In each race, the series races on virtual versions of the racetracks. In 2020, the tracks run were the ones that the

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. ...

would have raced at that weekend had the real races not been postponed due to COVID, except for the final race at North Wilkesboro, a former NASCAR track which last hosted a NASCAR race in 1996, to launch the track joining iRacing. On January 26, 2021, NASCAR and iRacing announced the Pro Invitational Series would return in 2021 to compensate for a reduced schedule for NASCAR's three national series, as the majority of race weekends only featured races without any practice or qualifying. Although

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 ...

and

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 ...

were supposed to split broadcast rights for the 2021 slate, the season was canceled following the former's share.

Teams and drivers

Drivers from the NASCAR Cup Series participated in the main events. In the first two races (at Homestead-Miami and Texas), drivers from all NASCAR series were invited to participate. However, once the Texas race had a massive entry list of 63 cars, almost half of which did not even get to race in the main event, it was announced that a separate series of races, Saturday Night Thunder, would be added for drivers in all of NASCAR's lower series (the

Xfinity Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to ...

, Truck Series,

ARCA Menards Series The ARCA Menards Series is an American stock car series, the premier division of the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). It is considered a minor, semi-professional league of stock car racing, used as a feeder series into the three nationa ...

, the ARCA East and ARCA West Series, the Pinty's Series, the Mexico Series, and the

Whelen Modified Tour The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (NWMT) (previously the NASCAR Winston Modified Tour and NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series from 1985 until 2005) is a modified stock car racing series owned and operated by NASCAR in the Modified Division. The Mod ...

) except for the

NASCAR Whelen Euro Series The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series (formerly known as Racecar Euro Series and Euro-Racecar NASCAR Touring Series) is an official NASCAR stock-car racing series based in Europe. It is one of NASCAR's three international-sanctioned series, alongside the ...

, which had their own iRacing series. The international Pinty's Mexico, and Euro Series would eventually host an independent division called the eNASCAR International iRacing Series.

Schedule

The 2021 season premiered on March 24 with the race at

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 ...

on dirt. The events were mid-week (primarily Wednesday night) races featuring upcoming circuits, especially with the 2021 schedule featuring numerous new road courses, an intermediate oval, and a dirt track being added. Three of the five Fox events featured new circuits or with considerable changes—Bristol (dirt),

Darlington Raceway Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located in Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is ...

(switched to the high horsepower, low downforce package instead of the reduced horsepower, high downforce package), and

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 ...

—along with the popular Talladega round and a fictitious street course in the streets of

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Rule changes

After cars were allowed two resets if they became damaged during the race at Homestead, it was decreased to only one reset allowed for the Texas race. Not all Cup Series drivers were locked into the main event at Texas, as

Joey Gase Joseph Robert Gase (born February 8, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the Nos. 35 and 53 Ford Mustang and Toyota Supra for Emerling-Gase Motor ...

, Brennan Poole, and

J. J. Yeley Christopher Beltram Hernandez "J. J." Yeley (born October 5, 1976) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the Nos. 13 and 66 cars for MBM Motorsports and part-time in ...

were placed in the qualifying race and had to attempt to race their way in. The Saturday Night Thunder race from Bristol used gen-4 (old style) ARCA cars. This changed for the next one of those races at Richmond, where Xfinity Series cars were used.

Media

It was announced that ''

'', which normally carries this part of the NASCAR's racing season, would broadcast all iRacing Pro Invitational Series events, which fall in a portion of the timeslots where the actual races would have been at. Fox's booth announcers

Mike Joy Michael Joy (born November 25, 1949) is an American TV sports announcer and who currently serves as the lap-by-lap voice of Fox Sports' coverage of NASCAR. His color analyst is Clint Bowyer. Counting 2022, Joy has been part of the live broadca ...

and

broadcast from Fox's NASCAR studio in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

, which would also serve as the broadcast headquarters for main booth commentators (who did not travel to the racetracks) when real-life competition resumed. The Saturday Night Thunder races and the qualifying race for the race at Texas were not televised on Fox and were instead livestreamed on NASCAR's YouTube channel, and the commentators for the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series events, play-by-play Evan Posocco, and color commentators Tim Terry and Justin Prince, served as the broadcast team for those races. Fox continued to air the races in 2021.

Television viewership

903,000 viewers watched the first race at Homestead, while 1,339,000 watched the second race at Texas. These races became the most-watched eSports broadcasts ever.

References