Dale Earnhardt Jr. to compete in IndyCar iRacing event at Michigan
By Asher Fair
Former NASCAR Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. is set to compete in Saturday’s IndyCar iRacing Challenge race at virtual Michigan International Speedway.
The coronavirus pandemic has forced NASCAR and IndyCar to halt their respective 2020 seasons, and in response to these unexpected stoppages, they have each introduced a virtual racing series through iRacing so that their drivers can still compete against one another in what has been described as being as close to the real thing as possible.
NASCAR created the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series while IndyCar launched the IndyCar iRacing Challenge.
These two series have even given some drivers who otherwise would not be competing in real-life the opportunity to compete in a virtual world.
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For example, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Labonte has competed in the first three races of the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson made his IndyCar “debut” by joining the open-wheel racing field for the first two races of the IndyCar iRacing Challenge.
Now IndyCar is set to welcome another NASCAR driver to the field for this Saturday afternoon’s race at virtual Michigan International Speedway, and that driver is two-time Daytona 500 champion and 15-time Most Popular Driver Award winner Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Earnhardt and IndyCar confirmed this news on Twitter.
Invite received. I better get to work figuring this car out. pic.twitter.com/Hurv7VK6Wa
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) April 8, 2020
Let's do this. https://t.co/QYGZUUB29M
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) April 8, 2020
Despite always having an interest in IndyCar, Earnhardt has no past IndyCar experience, aside of serving as an analyst on the NBC broadcast team for last year’s Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
But Earnhardt has made several NASCAR Cup Series starts at the four-turn, 2.0-mile (3.219-kilometer) Michigan International Speedway oval in Brooklyn, Michigan, 36 to be exact. He won there twice (June of 2008 and June of 2012) and recorded an average finish of 15.53 with eight top five finishes and 15 top 10 finishes.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s participation in the IndyCar virtual race is a further illustration of the point 2004 IndyCar champion and 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan made that “it is not us and them. It is the motorsports world” when it comes to IndyCar and NASCAR. Saturday’s race is set to be broadcast live from virtual Michigan International Speedway on NBC Sports Network beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET.