NASCAR is launching a new esports league with teams owned and operated by official league teams, such as Hendrick Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing.
The eNASCAR Heat Pro League, a collaboration with Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series parent Race Team Alliance, will be the first ever professional eNASCAR racing series for consoles (PS4 and Xbox One), utilizing 704Games’s simulation-style NASCAR Heat 3 game.
Real NASCAR teams, including Chip Ganassi Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, JR Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Roush Fenway Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing, and Team Penske, will all field teams in the series. They will pick drivers based on a draft slated to be held in early 2019.
The league’s official debut will take place in the spring of 2019 with up to 16 teams and 32 total drivers. Each team will field two drivers: one focused on Xbox One and another on PlayStation 4.
“This is an exciting moment in NASCAR history,” said Jonathan S. Marshall, the executive director of the Race Team Alliance, in a statement. “The race teams are taking this new league very seriously and will be looking for the best competitors in the nation to represent their respective teams. We expect the competition level will be high and we challenge these new esports drivers to become the best of the best.”
Fans across the nation that have NASCAR Heat 3 can begin to qualify from today for the first-ever eNASCAR Heat Pro League Draft scheduled to be held a few weeks from now. Once the season officially begins, all races will be live-streamed online at NASCAR.com and Motorsport.com.
“We look forward to taking this first step with our teams to introduce NASCAR-style racing to the massive esports audience on consoles,” said Craig Neeb, NASCAR’s executive vice president of innovation and development.
NASCAR has hosted online tournaments in the past, but this latest announcement signals a more substantial investment in developing esports. In September, the league hosted its first in-person esports tournament at Homestead-Miami Speedway, shortly after the release of Heat 3. NASCAR flew in the nation’s top qualifiers for the culmination of last season’s online tournament.
“This partnership creates a once in a lifetime opportunity for NASCAR Heat 3 players to work with a NASCAR race team and represent their team on a global esports platform,” said 704Games CEO Paul Brooks.
SportTechie Takeaway
NASCAR is taking a page out of the NBA’s playbook, copying the basketball league’s owned-and-operated NBA 2K esports league. NASCAR, just as with the NBA, hopes that the esports league expands the appeal of its sport to new (and younger) demographics and fans. NASCAR has suffered competition from rival leagues, such as Formula E, and has been using technology as a way to improve its relevance among younger generations. Hosting an esports league can give traditional sports the opportunity to tap into audiences they might have otherwise struggled to reach.