04/30/2020
eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series – Advance
Track: Virtual Dover International Speedway (1-mile)
Teams: No. 6 Castrol/Nutrien Ag eFord, No. 17 SunnyD eFord
Drivers: Ross Chastain (No. 6), Chris Buescher (No. 17)
Twitter: @RoushFenway, @Roush6Team, @17RoushTeam
Hashtag: #ProInvitationalSeries, #eNASCAR
eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series – Sunday, May 3 at 1 p.m. ET on FOX Broadcast Network, FS1, FOX Sports App
ADVANCE NOTES
Event Details
· Week six of the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series takes place from the virtual Dover International Speedway. The NCS was set to be in Delaware this weekend for the first of two visits to the 1-mile track in 2020.
· To date, the series has garnered just under 6 million viewers in five events, earning a top rating of 0.81 at virtual Texas, breaking its own record for the most viewed eSports event in U.S. TV history. Last week at Talladega, the series saw an uptick in viewership with 1.24 million viewers.
· Over the course of the series thus far, NASCAR, iRacing and FOX have made several changes based off feedback, the most recent being a trimmed-down field of 26 cars two weeks ago at virtual Richmond. Additionally, the series added a spin-off Saturday night event, where drivers from the ARCA Menards Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, and other regional series test their talents each week.
· The full field is back this week for Sunday’s Pro Invitational Series event from Dover, with traditional time-trial qualifying slated to set the lineup for Sunday’s 150-mile race.
Buescher at Dover International Speedway
· Buescher has eight career NCS starts at Dover with a best finish of 18th, which came back in his first-ever Cup start in 2016. Most recently he finished 23rd and 36th in 2019.
· Buescher has four Xfinity Series starts at Dover, including a win in the famed No. 60 machine in 2015, along with a fourth-place run in 2014 and an eighth-place finish in 2015. Overall in the NXS at Dover, Buescher started no worse than eighth and had an average finish of sixth.
· Through five weeks in the #ProInvitationalSeries, Buescher has finished 28th, 18th, 23rd ,21st and 29th after leading 30 laps at Bristol Motor Speedway early on, before getting caught up in a late accident with a glitching car.
Chastain at Dover International Speedway
· Chastain has six Cup Series starts at Dover with a best finish of 20th in 2017.
· In Xfinity action, Chastain has an average finish of 17.2 with three results of 12th – the best of his NXS career at the 1-mile track. Most recently he ran 12th in the spring of 2019, and followed that with a 13th-place finish in the fall.
· Chastain has shown signs of strength thus far in the #ProInvitationalSeries, putting his eMustang up front early at Homestead, before going on to finish 22nd (Texas), 16th (Bristol), 13th (Richmond) and 27th (Talladega).
On the eCars
RFR team partner Castrol – paired with Nutrien Ag Solutions from Chastain’s Xfinity Series entry – will ride on the No. 6 eMustang. Iconic brand and thirst-quenching favorite SunnyD will be riding along with Buescher on the No. 17 machine.
NASCAR/iRacing History
NASCAR and iRacing have an unprecedented history in the esports space, currently in the 11th season of the longest-running officially sanctioned esports racing series, the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series. It features 40 of the best sim racers in the world competing for more than $300,000, one of the richest payouts in esports racing competition.
Roush Fenway’s 2020 lineup includes Nathan Lyon, driver of the No. 6 and a native of St. Louis Missouri, and Kollin Keister, driver of the No. 17, who hails from Frostburg, Maryland.
