March 27th, 2020
Via Sport Techie, a report on NASCAR’s eSports platform:
During these uncertain times of the COVID-19 pandemic, racing leagues such as NASCAR and Formula 1 are well positioned to keep competition flowing—at least in the digital realm. Formula 1 hosted a virtual version of the Australian Grand Prix that saw McLaren driver Lando Norris blow past Twitch’s previously concurrent streaming record. Now, NASCAR is launching a pro iRacing series with its real-world pro drivers.
The racing industry is prepared to make this pivot because of the simulators that many racers already use to train. Norris often streamed his races through iRacing.com and had 200,000 Twitch followers before the Not the AUS GP esports event. NASCAR has had a partnership with iRacing and has been hosting esports races for over a decade. In fact, William Byron, driver of NASCAR’s #24 car, started on the racing simulator and credits it with jump-starting his career.
NASCAR wasn’t as quick to cancel its events as other leagues earlier this month. On March 12, the U.S.-based motorsports league said it planned to move forward with its live races at the Atlanta Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway, but without fans. However, it quickly walked that decision back and canceled both a day later. All real-world NASCAR races are postponed at least through May 3.
In an attempt to keep fans engaged, NASCAR executives quickly turned to iRacing. On March 17, the league unveiled the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series, a virtual circuit featuring NASCAR Cup Series drivers such as Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell. The multi-week series started last weekend at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway, with Hamlin taking the checkered flag.
SportTechie recently caught up with NASCAR’s managing director of gaming and esports, Scott Warfield, to chat about NASCAR’s virtual plans.
How did this virtual series come about?
I’m not going to say we had some fantastic planning and had all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed. This is uncharted territory for everyone. At the core of what we put together in 48 hours was us trying to do what was right. That might sound cliche, but it’s the truth. If you go back to last Thursday when we made our announcement to postpone Miami—that’s when the conversation started with iRacing, NASCAR, Cup drivers like Dale Earnhardt Jr. saying, ‘Hey what can we do to keep people smiling, happy and give them some entertainment?’
When things really started to unfold globally and here in the states, and we announced we were off until early May at least, that’s when things really took off and we asked how could we create and build something to help fill the void for millions of fans that were trying to wrap their brains around this situation and all this fear and anxiety.
That was the crux of it. We hustled. We had the right calls with the right stakeholders. We put out a press release probably before we were ready for it, but we thought it was important to get something announced as a flag in the sand in an industry that has teams, drivers, tracks and official partners. It was something to say, ‘Hey, this is what we’re going to do and now let’s figure it out together.’ We will give our fanbase, if nothing else, a 90-minute break from the craziness.
Why do you think motorsports was able to adapt to virtual so quickly?
This is our 11th season with iRacing and they’ve been incredible partners. It checks so many boxes for us. This has been a tool that our top athletes use to get ready for future events and get additional seat time at a much reduced cost. It’s used as almost a training ground. William Byron didn’t step into a race car until he was 14 years old. That [virtual] component is so authentic and organic to our sport and one that we already lean heavily on.
And the virtual races really are incredibly racing. The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series airs every other week and features the best iRacing gamers in the world, and the show they put on is just incredible. It’s wild. And that has been a fantastic mid-week engagement tool for us. We’re a weekend sport, which is great but also a challenge. We don’t have mid-week games, or locker room coverage. So what do we do? We have an iRacing series that airs every other Tuesday. It gives core fans and gamers around the world something to engage with.
Will there be a learning curve for some of the real-world pro drivers?
Well, yes. It’s not the same. iRacing is difficult and the kid who won our Tuesday Coca-Cola race, Ryan Luza, ran 1,000 laps on Tuesday as practice leading up to the race just to understand the handling of the car. Some guys are using it more than others. Many of the Cup drivers have been practicing but you’ll see varying levels of preparedness. This is something we’re going to at least attempt to do every week during the hiatus and I think, because of the competitive nature of these guys and gals, it will be super interesting to see how it all unfolds.
Do you think other sports can do something similar?
The infrastructure is there for racing and it’s authentic. Dale Jr., Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson, many in this field on Sunday, they were going to be racing and joining races and practicing whether we organized it or not because they love their craft.
I don’t know how many NBA players sit around and play NBA 2K or if Tom Brady is playing Madden. My guess is the first step for them is to say, ‘Hey, can we get enough of our guys to sit around and play a game?’ That’s a step we don’t have to take. All we had to do is ask them to come to this league we created and race, and they were like, ‘Cool.’ We also have the benefit of a lot of teams and drivers wanting to help sponsors, so I think you’ll see them put binary car sponsorships onto their esports cars to provide value to companies that invested in them not knowing we’d be on an eight-week hiatus.
Do you think COVID-19 could change fans’ consumption habits over the long term?
I think the world as we know it in general is going to be different. Being at an organization and sport that’s as forward-looking and innovative as NASCAR is—because at our core we’re a technology platform—I don’t have any concerns because I know we’ll adapt accordingly. Pre-March 2020 is one world of sports, and post March-2020 is a different world of sports. That’s the world in which we’re currently living and we’ll adjust accordingly.
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