STAMFORD, Conn. – April 2, 2020 – Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin headline a group of 18 drivers that will compete at virtual versions of iconic and short tracks across America next week on NBCSN, as NASCAR America presents the NBC eSports Short Track iRacing Challenge beginning Monday, April 6, at 7 p.m. ET.
From Monday-Wednesday, six different drivers will compete in two timed races in Cup Series cars at an iconic track at 7 p.m. ET on NBCSN. The top two finishers from each night will advance to the championship race at the virtual Martinsville Speedway on Thursday night on NBCSN.
Monday – Rockingham Speedway Tuesday – Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis Wednesday – Myrtle Beach Speedway Thursday – Martinsville Speedway (Championship Race)
The following drivers will compete in the NBC eSports Short Track iRacing Challenge:
Monday at Rockingham Speedway – Kyle Busch, William Byron, Austin Dillon, Parker Kligerman, Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace Tuesday at Lucas Oil Raceway – Justin Allgaier, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, Harrison Burton, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson Wednesday at Myrtle Beach Speedway – Landon Cassill, Matt DiBenedetto, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Timmy Hill, Ryan Preece and Myatt Snider
“We’re proud to continue our successful collaboration with iRacing and NASCAR, which began last year, to produce the NBC eSports Short Track iRacing Challenge,” said Jeff Behnke, vice president, production, NASCAR on NBC and NBCSN. “Thanks to all the drivers from the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series for joining in what should be four consecutive nights of entertainment and fun for all the great race fans and viewers.”
“Of all of the events we’ve been putting together for real-world pros, the NBC eSports Short Track iRacing Challenge should be one of the most fun,” said Steve Myers, iRacing executive producer. “So many of the top drivers in NASCAR have honed their skills on both local short tracks and iRacing, and combining the two for a virtual week-long showdown should deliver plenty of excitement. We can’t wait to see who takes the checkered flag and bragging rights!”
This marks the latest collaboration between NBC Sports and iRacing, which began in 2019 when NBC Sports telecast the first-ever eNASCAR live event on television. NBC Sports and iRacing teamed up to present the 2019 eNASCAR PEAK Antifreeze iRacing Championship in a two-hour event live on NBCSN last October. Earlier this year, it was announced that six races of the 2020 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Playoffs will air live on NBCSN later this fall.
NBC Sports NASCAR commentators Rick Allen and Steve Letarte will call the action, including interviews with drivers during the races. Jeff Burton and Marty Snider will host the NBC eSports Short Track iRacing Challenge via Zoom.
As part of free access to racing fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic, TrackPass on NBC Sports Goldis featuring nearly 50 long-form documentaries for your viewing pleasure. Throughout the week, we’ll preview one documentary each day that looks back on some of NASCAR’s biggest stars, venues and stories from the past.
Other available content includes full-event replays of all races since TrackPass launched in December 2019. Condensed replays of every American Flat Track, IMSA WeatherTech, K&N and Modified race from the 2019 season will also be made available shortly.
Free access to TrackPass runs through May 1. Fans can learn more about the streaming service here.
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.
Fortunately for Elliott – and many others – Hendrick fabricator Corey Williams is producing exactly that kind of next-level simulator during the current downtime in the racing world. Elliott’s rig was delivered last week just in time for the iRacing event at virtual Texas Motor Speedway, and with some solid time under his belt to get acclimated to the system now, Elliott should be in fine form for Sunday’s Food City Showdown at virtual Bristol Motor Speedway (1 p.m. ET, FOX, FS1, FOXSports App).
“It’s kind of crazy to think this is where all the NASCAR guys have been sitting these past couple weeks,” Elliott said. “But it’s a tool that not a lot of people have and we’re lucky to have something like it to keep racing.”
It’s exactly the kind of positive feedback that should keep Williams, a former late-model racer turned Hendrick Motorsports fabricator, busy in the near future as iRacing galvanizes the auto-racing industry that would be otherwise parked during this COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
Corey Williams (foreground) works as a fabricator for Hendrick Motorsports. (Logan Whitton/NKP/Courtesy of NASCAR Media)
Williams, 34, started the Williams Custom Fabricators business more than a decade ago from his native Maine to eventually North Carolina, using the outlet to keep busy, make money and stay challenged after a successful career racing go-karts, legends cars and super-late models. The expense of driving pushed Williams to apply his mechanical skills in order to stay in the sport. He was hired as a fabricator by the championship Hendrick Motorsports team in 2009 and currently works specifically on the team’s superspeedway cars, which have won the Daytona 500 pole position for five of the last six years.
“When my racing started slowing down, I still had to find an avenue to really get that competitiveness out of my system,” Williams said. “So I got into iRacing, and as soon as I got home with a wheel and pedals and kind of was at my desk racing, I started seeing some issues with things moving around and pedals sliding around. I just became quickly frustrated with that, so I’m like ‘There’s got to be a better way.’
“So I went to work, brought my wheel and pedals in there and I just started kind of working away. I built a little rig and brought it home and took some pictures of it, and threw it up on the iRacing hardware forum and just began getting a lot of messages asking if I sold it, or would build it for other people. And I was like, ‘Yeah.'”
One of the first major race names to seek out a Williams design was the late John Andretti, who purchased a sim for his son, Jarett, a decade ago.
“That was pretty cool to sell one to him,” Williams said. “I went over and set it up at his house, and I have a picture on my (Facebook) page of John in the simulator trying to get his son set up in it. That was probably the first real big name I’d say I made one for.”
Williams’ work was well received, and he stayed busy, enjoying the extra opportunities until making the decision to take a break from the sim construction when he started a family. He thinks a 2009 photo of his then-infant daughter, Macie, in a sim he designed was one of the last he made before starting a self-induced sabbatical.
But Macie, now 10, and her brother, Corey Jr., 9, are older, and Williams has even found ways to let them be a part of his recently reinvigorated business. Since last fall, Williams has been making new sim rigs. And now with the hold on on-track activity, the demand for them is booming – from high-profile clients to next-door neighbors.
“It’s kind of funny because the last one I built was when I first started at HMS and I remember I had to go and ask permission to build it, but it was for Roush Racing,” Williams said. “I built one for them and that was the last one I’d done. I didn’t know if iRacing would continue to grow like it was. I kind of thought it may be a quick little fad. Just recently, I realized it’s picking up speed so I was like, I need to get back in.”
Williams estimates it takes about a day to produce one of his high-quality customized sim rigs while working at home – with Macie and Corey Jr. occasionally helping out to make sure the assembly is spot-on.
“It’s pretty funny,” Williams said. “I have a two-car garage, and my vision when I came back to this in October was I would clean everything out and put it in storage, but instead, I just ordered tools. I had tools delivered in two weeks and by that time had designs in my head. As soon as the tools showed up, we plugged them in and started throwing sparks.
“I’m trying to keep my simulators the same, but I also want to create a place where people can come and a la carte say, ‘I want this set-up with this wheel and pedal. I want that keyboard tray, but I don’t want that shifter mount.’ So I’m just building them to what the customer requests. That’s what I’m trying to keep it at.”
As more racing series choose the iRacing option, Williams’ business looks to accelerate.
“It’s just crazy how this whole thing went,” he said. “I got back into it and was kind of just building at night and on the weekend. With everything shut down, I really have nothing left to do right now except try to focus on this and that’s what I’ve done.
“Between everyone having to be home and cooped up, it’s just exploded, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Country music singer Justin Moore will perform a virtual pre-race concert Sunday before the third eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series race, the Food City Showdown presented by M&Ms. Moore will join NASCAR Cup Series driver Austin Dillon and NASCAR.com digital host Alex Weaver for the online event.
Moore, an award-winning singer/songwriter who has released five albums since his 2009 debut, will perform a couple of his songs and chat about the upcoming race at the virtual Bristol Motor Speedway. The race, which is set to air at 1 p.m. ET on FOX/FS1 (subject to change) and the FOX Sports App, will feature some of NASCAR’s biggest names.
The Arkansas native joins the list of virtual pre-race acts since the Pro Invitational Series was conceived and developed in advance of the Dixie Vodka 150 at virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 22. Tim Dugger played a virtual pre-race show for that event, with Cole Swindell taking the reins last week.
Fans can catch the virtual pre-race concert Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET on NASCAR’s YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
Name: Blane Current City: Sumter, South Carolina Member Since: 2017
Getting to KNOW Blane
Q: How did you first become interested in NASCAR? “I can remember going to my great-granddad’s house when I was young, and he would have the races on TV on Sunday afternoons. I loved Thomas the train, there were trains named Rusty and Gordon, and my dad convinced me that trains were racing while we would listen on the radio.”
Q: What is your favorite part about NASCAR? “I just loved the competitive aspect of it and pulling for my favorite drivers to do well. The entertainment of sitting back on a Sunday afternoon and just watching TV is great.”
Q: What is your favorite NASCAR memory? “I loved taking one of my best friends to his first race a few years ago at the Southern 500. We had pit passes, saw the drivers up close as well as the Governor, saw a fantastic race with lots of spins, and a Carl Edwards win and flip!”
Q: Do you have a favorite in any of the following categories? Drivers: “Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney.” Tracks: “Martinsville.” OEM: “Toyota.” Sponsor: “M&Ms- they’ve been very loyal to the sport, they are delicious, and they sponsor Rowdy!”
Q: What are some of your hobbies? “I love to spend time in Clemson, go golfing, go to sporting events, and hang out with friends!”
FROM ALL OF US AT NASCAR, WE THANK BLANE FOR HIS CONTINUED SUPPORT AND LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM HIM IN 2020!
Look for Blane on the Official NASCAR Fan Council page on NASCAR.COM.
The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series is getting a new look for this weekend’s events at virtual Bristol Motor Speedway, providing a different spin for a series that has been popular during its debut the past two weekends on FOX, FS1 and the FOX Sports App.
What won’t be different is the participation of NASCAR Cup Series stars, both past and present. What will be different is the race format on Sunday and a new Saturday night show that uses ARCA Menards Series cars and includes drivers from the NASCAR Xfinity Series, NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, ARCA, the NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series and the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.
The lineup for Sunday’s main event, the Food City Showdown presented by M&Ms (1 p.m. ET, FOX, FS1, FOX Sports App), will be set after two heat races. Everyone in the heat races will transfer to the main event.
Meanwhile, the additional Saturday event, Saturday Night Thunder, will be live-streamed on eNASCAR.com and will feature a format familiar to short-track fans with multiple heat races leading up to a main event. None of Saturday’s racers will transfer to Sunday’s event, but it’s a way to provide additional esports action during a time when NASCAR regulars are away from the track because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Islip, New York, native has returned to a family-run operation after spending the last few seasons with car owner Eric Sanderson. When Sanderson retired from the sport, so did Solomito‘s days of driving the prestigious No. 16 car.
“It‘s a humbling experience,” said Solomito. “I drove for a team that‘s well-funded and established. We won plenty of races together but now we start back at the bottom.
“We don‘t have a ton of money, but my family will work very hard for what we enjoy. That‘s running and running competitively.”
Whenever the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour resumes, fans will now find Solomito in car No. 66. While he aims to find another ride with another team somewhere down the road, he‘s focused right now on winning and having fun with his family.
“It‘s a very special number to my family and has a lot of history because my Dad donned the No. 66 for many years at Riverhead Raceway,” he said. “If I can get up front and into victory lane, it would mean a lot. I‘m just looking forward to having some fun with my family and the people I love.”
Solomito introduction to the sport came not in modifieds but in go-karts.
“We would travel and race against guys like Justin Bonsignore and other guys on the Tour,” the 37-year-old said. “We all grew up racing together.”
Away from the track, Solomito has focused on his graphic design business Natural Design Concepts, which opened last January.
“I was always into graphic design,” he said. A lot of racers have supported me and made it bigger than I could have ever imagined.”
The first-year business is named after Solomito‘s nickname, “The Natural.” The nickname is not a rip-off of the classic Robert Redford baseball movie, but a label he was given during a restroom conversation.
“There was this character who used to race cars back in the day at Riverhead Raceway,” Solomito recalled. “He was in the bathroom with the announcer of the track and struck up a conversation at the urinal.”
“He said you know that young Solomito? From now on you call him ‘The Natural.‘ The announcer went back in the booth and called me ‘The Natural‘ and I actually won that race. It stuck ever since.”
Since then, Solomito still has the nickname and a burgeoning graphic design business based of it.
The 2010 playoff race at Texas Motor Speedway had a little bit of everything. Two of the more mild-mannered drivers in the garage getting physical in a mid-race confrontation? Check. An unheard of mid-race pit crew change? Check. Oh and how about title implications in the third-to-last race of the season? Check.
Entering the 2010 AAA Texas 500, four-time defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson held 14-point lead on Denny Hamlin with three races left in the season. But when the title picture is the third biggest story line from this race, you know that there was plenty of other drama that unfolded.
Let’s start with how things got physical between Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon. No, that is not a typo — “The Mayor” and the four-time champion came to blows under caution on Lap 191. The two playoff drivers had been racing each other hard, with Gordon taking exception to Burton crowding him in Turn 4 before the caution. He pulled his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet alongside Burton’s No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to express his displeasure, but Burton — inadvertently, he would later say — turned Gordon into the wall under caution.
Gordon made his way to Burton’s car, where some shoves and pushes were exchanged — but no punches — before NASCAR officials broke the two up.
With Gordon out of the race, Johnson’s crew chief Chad Knaus cooked up a plan to try and boost his driver’s hopes of winning a fifth straight championship. He decided to swap pit crews with Gordon’s team in the middle of the race. That swap would stay permanent coming out of Texas for the final two races of the season. And while Johnson finished ninth in the race, the move paid dividends in the season’s final weeks.
As for the rest of the race, much of it was dominated by Greg Biffle, who led 224 of the 334 laps but ultimately finished in fifth. Hamlin had won in the spring event at the 1.5-mile track and took the point position from Mark Martin shortly with 29 laps to go for his eighth and final win of the season. The victory put Hamlin in position for his first championship with a 33-point lead with two races to go.
Hamlin, however, would ultimately not be able to hold off Johnson from clinching his fifth straight title in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Check out Denny Hamlin’s sweep of Texas Motor Speedway and all the dram that led up to it in this Classic Race Replay of the 2010 AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
As part of free access to racing fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic, TrackPass on NBC Sports Goldis featuring nearly 50 long-form documentaries for your viewing pleasure. Throughout the week, we’ll preview one documentary each day that looks back on some of NASCAR’s biggest stars, venues and stories from the past.
After previewing NASCAR Decades: The 90s and NASCAR Decades: The 80s, now it’s time to get groovy and look back on NASCAR Decades: The 70s. From the sport’s biggest stars making fashion statements to nicknames like “Jaws” for Darrell Waltrip and “The Last American Hero” for Junior Johnson, TrackPass takes a nice stroll down memory lane.
Other available content includes full-event replays of all races since TrackPass launched in December 2019. Condensed replays of every American Flat Track, IMSA WeatherTech, K&N and Modified race from the 2019 season will also be made available shortly.
Free access to TrackPass runs through May 1. Fans can learn more about the streaming service here.
WrestleMania Sunday starts fast and furious as Rob Gronkowski and Mojo Rawley have been named co-grand marshals for the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series Food City Showdown presented by M&Ms from virtual Bristol Motor Speedway.
The event gets underway Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on FOX, FS1 and the FOX Sports App.
The three-time Super Bowl champion is set to host The Only WrestleMania Too Big for Just One Night, as The Show of Shows streams on the award-winning WWE Network on April 4-5 at 7 pm ET.
