Due to the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series, NASCAR has been able to attract more than a million new fans who did not watch any of the first four real-life races before the season was halted due to coronavirus pandemic.
NASCAR has been suspended since March 8 as the last race to have taken place was at the Phoenix Raceway. And, yet there is no exact resumption date for the regular NASCAR cup series.
In the meanwhile, NASCAR and iRacing teamed up to bring the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series in which real racers compete with each other in a virtual raceway with the help of their simulator. The idea is to organize a virtual race for every real-life race that was postponed, with the exception of Atlanta Motor Speedway. Until now, four virtual races have been organized at virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway, virtual Texas Motor Speedway, virtual Bristol Motor Speedway and virtual Richmond Raceway.
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And it seems that the virtual event has not only drawn the interest of the previous fans but has drawn a lot of new fans too.
According to Nielsen, one million new viewers who did not watch any of the real-life races at Daytona International Speedway (Daytona 500), Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Auto Club Speedway or Phoenix Raceway have tuned in to watch one of the Pro Invitational Series races.
One million unique viewers who did not tune into any of @NASCAR's first four real-life races in 2020 have tuned into one of the Pro Invitational Series esports events, according to @Nielsen.
➖ Overall, 5.4 million unique viewers have watched at least one of the virtual races. pic.twitter.com/Y6t6M5WxWs
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) April 23, 2020