Richmond Raceway has become the first NASCAR Cup Series track to operate its own esports team for the 2018 NASCAR Peak Antifreeze Series (NPAS), a league-sponsored iRacing competition that has existed since 2010.
The new entry, dubbed the Chaos Crew, will have six drivers on its team, including Michael Conti (who won the 2014 championship) and Logan Clampitt (who finished second in 2017). Conti won that 2014 title and its $10,000 purse as a 17-year-old; he has also claimed to have beaten real-life driving legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. — who is known to use iRacing as a training tool — in about half their simulated head-to-head competitions.
The #5 car promotes Global Sports Marketing Juggernaut #4FRONT & will be driven by eMotorsports Athlete & 2014 Series Champion Michael Conti in the 2018 NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series.
Designs are from @JDRGraphics.
Read about @Team_4FRONT here https://t.co/oufQ0rdMvC pic.twitter.com/spIFs9hJku
— CHAOS CREW (@ChaosCrewRVA) February 13, 2018
The NPAS circuit runs every other Tuesday night at 9 p.m. Eastern, when it is streamed on iRacing Live, and begins on Feb. 20 with a virtual run of the Daytona 500.
“eSports is a part of the racing landscape that’s about to take a giant leap forward this year,” Richmond Vice President Mike Waddell said in a press release. “As an engagement platform, we see eSports as a great way to welcome new fans, and build another strong conduit into the regional school systems to support STEM curriculums. NASCAR, iRacing and the motorsports industry overall are driving eSports into the mainstream and we look forward to being on the front end of this movement.”
“I’m honored to be a part of the growth of Richmond Raceway eSports,” Conti said. “I am confident we are going to drive this initiative forward in 2018. Never before has the NASCAR Peak Antifreeze Series had a NASCAR sanctioned track field its own entry, and I can only hope the success of this deal will bolster my place in the series and attract the interest of other tracks and affiliates alike.”
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Richmond Raceway eSports has also partnered with NASCAR-licensed 704Games on weekly events and is installing a two-seat driving, iRacing-powered simulator at its track.
“The goals of Richmond Raceway eSports are three-fold,” Waddell told Racer.com. “To engage a group of people who are interested in sim racing and get them out to the track for a NASCAR event. Two, capture the imagination of students with talents in the STEM curriculum and help them learn more about NASCAR, and get out to the Raceway for one of our events and tune into races on television or MRN Radio. And three, establish Richmond Raceway as the innovators for eSports through all of the above.”
Several NASCAR teams are also reportedly working on their own independent esports venture, according to the Sports Business Journal, to debut later this year.