NASCAR Launches Youth eSports Series on iRacing

Only a few years ago, the real world racing associations considered the term “Sim Racing” and the eSports format to be childish and of no real value to the world of commercial autosport. With the recent decline of motorsport spectator numbers and therefore fewer sponsoring deals, most motorsport organisations have now taken a 180° turn and adjusted their views on the matter.

eSports has become big business and after the relative success of last years F1 Esports season, the rest of the real world racing series are now all jumping to host their own virtual championships. Esport is now considered to be a perfect platform to attract a younger and therefore future audience.

Today, NASCAR announced the formation of a youth esports racing series which will be the first esports competition created to attract and identify young talent.

The NASCAR Youth eSports Series will be hosted on the iRacing online racing platform and will be an easily accessible entry point to real-world racing format, providing young competitors with the chance to enter the world of real and competitive eSports racing.

The youth series will be open to participants ages 13-16 worldwide. The inaugural 12-week season is slated to kick off in June on virtual renderings of iconic short tracks like Langley Speedway, The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.