While the word of the year is obviously going to be ‘social distancing’, somewhere in the top five should be ‘unprecedented’. As the world has collectively shut everyone inside their households outside of a few belligerent spring breakers, sports fans have been left starved for live events.

Most sports leagues have their hands tied. NASCAR in partnership with iRacing saw a unique opportunity.

Casual racing fans are learning that iRacing has actually been around for over a decade despite only entering the mainstream lexicon in recent years. As more professional drivers talk about and use the sim racing program, a debate began to rage online whether someone could train in iRacing and become a competitor in a pro series.

Personally, I was sold on iRacing the moment I saw this:

NASCAR champion Tony Stewart calling two sim racer competitors out for whining and being, “a bunch of couple bitches”, is exactly how you sell me on a racing simulation platform.

The young hotshot piloting the legendary #24 William Byron grew up on iRacing getting into late model races later than normal for most drivers. Byron’s success invigorated the nature vs nurture argument over how much simulated racing can add skill versus getting reps in real cars.

NASCAR and racing analyst Jeff Gluck got into spirited debates on Twitter as he couldn’t see how iRacing translated to real-life success.

There was a lot more to that debate where pro drivers got involved, sides were taken, and Twitter did its thing, but it’s important to note that iRacing really picked up steam in the social conscience in the last couple years.

While sports gaming has gotten more prevalent in terms of gaming competitions, nothing has reached the magnitude of what the racing world witnessed on Fox Sports 1 yesterday. For the level of effort and interest that was exhibited, FOX should’ve run the Dixie Vodka 150 on their main channel instead of their sports network.

No other timeline other than this one would have a worldwide pandemic leading to 7-time series champion Jimmie Johnson racing a simulated race in an Indy Car rig with only days to prepare, only to lose several laps at the beginning due to connectivity issues. This was the first time in recorded history Jimmie Johnson was a fallible human consumed by terrible internet service like the rest of us. Johnson spent the next 80 laps wrecking half the field. It was glorious.

Alex Bowman was tweeting and driving. Ryan Blaney was Chase Elliott’s crew chief. Clint Bowyer was in a padded room talking on the FOX broadcast with Mike Joy and Jeff Gordon. NASCAR’s most popular driver ever Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the race lead midway and got pumped in cheers from the virtual crowd cued by Jeff Gordon. Bobby Labonte was cruising around the track racing in jeans and a t-shirt.

That entire last paragraph would be impossible to conceive a month ago. The opportunity to enjoy real-life superstars race each other in a simulated video game environment on cable broadcast organized in such a short time is human innovation when live entertainment was needed most.

Was the broadcast perfect? Of course not. Trying to scrap together a never-seen or done before broadcast combining iRacing with graphics packages, commentary, multiple audio channels, and the other elements that FOX included was a feat their offices will be celebrating for a long time. There was a pre-recorded pre-race invocation and a national anthem sung in a country artist’s garage juxtaposed with shots of a virtual sellout crowd.

Even Michael Waltrip and Regan Smith had pre-race spots. NASCAR on FOX treated the event like it was a real race with a glimmer in their eye the entire way.

A video of just the green flag being waved is above 200k views on Twitter. FOX even did the ‘Crank it Up’ segment. TWICE.

There were little hiccups in the broadcast when Mike and Jeff tried to talk to drivers at their homes and couldn’t get the audio for Kyle Busch or Jimmie Johnson (they got Jimmie on their second try), but it’s forgivable considering this was live television.

The race itself was a wreckfest for the first 80 of 100 laps as many drivers reported that the virtual cars are less forgiving than their actual cars. First time iRacers like Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, and Brad Keselowski, among others struggled. Veteran iRacers like Timmy Smith, Garrett Smithley, and Ty Majeski hung around the top 10 for most of the race. The top 10 had a great mix of Cup series regulars and a who’s who of, “Who is that!?”

The final 20 laps were intense. Dale Jr was locked in a fierce battle with Timmy Hill and that appeared like it was going to be the race to the finish. A dogfight between Dale Jr and Timmy Hill would’ve been one for the, “this really happened in 2020!?”, record books. Instead, Denny Hamlin had other plans and came roaring through the field on fresher tires to take Dale Jr to the line coming off of turn 4. They nearly wrecked but Dale dove low before they could touch and Hamlin made it first to the line.

I sent a clip of the end of the race to a friend, he thought it was a real race until I told him otherwise.

I was glued to my television from broadcast start to finish. Most importantly, I was left wanting more. When the race was over I started thinking, “Maybe I could get into iRacing.” I swiftly remembered the current state of my bank account and flipped on NASCAR Heat 4 like the lower class citizen I am (NH4 is a good game by the way, read my review below).

The invitational series will continue next at Texas. I expect more to be announced as the week goes along. I’ll be looking forward to it.