NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin’s daughter brought an early end to his eNASCAR iRacing Invitational race at Talladega Superspeedway.
There are numerous differences between competing in real-life NASCAR racing and competing in virtual races as a part of the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series, which NASCAR and iRacing introduced despite the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Driving from the comfort of their own home” is a term that has often been used to describe the conditions with which the drivers have been faced over the first five races of this six-race virtual series.
But what drivers are also facing are distractions.
Hamlin’s who was victorious in the opening race at virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway just over a month ago found that out firsthand on Sunday race at virtual Talladega Superspeedway.
In the 74-lap race about the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) high-banked oval in Lincoln, Alabama, his seven-y-0 daughter, Taylor, entered the room where Denny’s exorbitant sim rig is set up.
Taylor the room with a remote.
“Dad, can we go downstairs and do go-karts?” she asked.
Hamlin “replied” by waving her off to try to get her to go away so that he could stay focused on the task at hand.
“Can we?” she asked again.
That’s when she hit the power button.
“Hey, my screen just went black!” shouted her shocked father.
“Uh oh…” she said, before quickly scooting away.
I had so many questions about what just happened.. then we found 2nd hand footage at the end. I cannot believe it. pic.twitter.com/BfN1sNAsg8
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) April 26, 2020
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The 39-y-o had led one lap after starting the race back in 36th positon when the “incident” tookplace and left him staring at a 39th (last) place finish, a position which dropped him from second to eighth in the unofficial standings after the first five races of the series.