The past two virtual races eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series has been a huge success. Featured on FOX, FS1 and the FOX Sports App, the second race at the virtual Texas Motor Speedway became the highest-rated televised esports event with 1.3 million total viewers from Fox and FS1.
NASCAR has decided to provide “a different spin” for the third race at the virtual Bristol Motor Speedway. They explained on their official website:
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 (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.
NASCAR explained that the racers from Saturday Night Thunder will not transfer to the event on Sunday. The new eNASCAR iRacing event is to provide “additional esports action” during the time of lack of real racing events.