A host of drivers who have tasted sweet victory at Talladega Superspeedway, including six-time winners Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon, will be a part of the field in Sunday’s GEICO 70 eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series virtual race. The event is scheduled to get the green flag at 1 p.m. ET / Noon CT and will be simulcast on FOX, FS1, and the FOX Sports app.
Approximately 40 drivers, consisting of current and former competitors from the NASCAR Cup Series – 14 of which have won NASCAR Cup Series events at Talladega Superspeedway – will “strap in” their simulators and go head-to-head at the virtual 2.66-mile high banks in the 70-lap event.
Set to join Earnhardt and NASCAR Hall of Famer Gordon is five-time ’Dega winner Brad Keselowski, along with other former Talladega winners Joey Logano (3), Clint Bowyer (2), Jimmie Johnson (2), Chase Elliott (1), Ryan Blaney (1), Denny Hamlin (1), Kyle Busch (1), Kevin Harvick (1), Aric Almirola (1), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (1), and Bobby Labonte (1), who was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame earlier this year. Others in the field include GEICO Racing driver Ty Dillon, last year’s MoneyLion 300 winner Tyler Reddick and William Byron, who has won the last two eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series events. The full entry list is on NASCAR.com.
In addition to the broadcast, the track, along with its entitlement sponsor GEICO, has provided a fun way for fans to engage and share content via Twitter for opportunities to win prizes during the broadcast. Fans are encouraged to follow Talladega Superspeedway, GEICO, and GEICO Racing social channels for more information, which is soon to come.
The GEICO 70 will be the fifth event in the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series, which kicked off at virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway last month with Hamlin taking the checkered flag. The following week at virtual Texas Motor Speedway, iRacing extraordinaire and NASCAR driver Timmy Hill beat out fellow simulator racing expert Byron at the line to grab his 674th iRacing victory. But, Byron got his due the next week at virtual Bristol Motor Speedway with his triumph over John Hunter Nemechek, then again last Sunday at virtual Richmond Raceway.
Will Byron be able to pull off a three-peat? Time will tell, but just like typical Talladega, the young gun is expecting the unexpected.
“It’s going to be wild,” said Byron of the race at the virtual 2.66-mile speedway after his win at Richmond. “I think there’s honestly going to be some really good racing. It’s going to be a tough race. I think virtually you’re going to see a lot of aggression and things of that nature. I’m really actually looking forward to it because I feel like some guys will be really good at drafting. But at the same time it’s going to be really interesting.”
The GEICO 70 will be Gordon’s first attempt in the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series racing against some of his past competitors. Gordon’s colleagues, FOX broadcasters’ Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds, are scheduled to call the action on the FOX broadcast. The drivers will run in a 2-lap, single-car qualifier on the morning of the digital event. Each driver will get one damage reset and the race can go up to three green-white-checkered attempts if it were to go into NASCAR Overtime. Pre-race dignitaries will be announced soon.
The virtual racing action will kick off Saturday evening when drivers from other NASCAR series, including the Xfinity Series, Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, and ARCA Menards Series, face-off in the Saturday Night Thunder exhibition race. The 150-mile iRacing event will be broadcast on NASCAR’s YouTube and eNASCAR.com/live at 8 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. CT.
The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series was created following the postponement of the NASCAR season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The multi-week series emulating the original 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, is an exhibition esports series featuring a collection of past and present race car drivers from NASCAR.
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