New York, NY – NBC Sports has partnered with Dig Down Media to produce four esports events to be broadcast live in 2019. Working in conjunction with iRacing and NASCAR, the first-ever eNASCAR events will feature the worlds best sim racers competing in a series of All-Star events starting Thursday, July 25th and running through the end of the season.
NASCAR America’s Krista Voda, Parker Kligerman, and AJ Allmendinger will host along with iRacing team owners Steve Letarte and Jeff Burton, who will join for pre-and post-race commentary from the NBC Sports Charlotte studio.
“For five years, the simulator has been used on NASCAR America to showcase tracks and racers around the USA and this new four race venture will be a natural extension of that teamwork.” says Jeff Behnke, Vice President of NASCAR Production at NBC Sports Group.
Dig Down Media provides integration, engineering and productions services to NBC Sports, including in-studio live production of the simulator-based content. These events will feature Dig Down Media’s custom graphics engine providing real-time scoring and telemetry using the NASCAR on NBC graphics package.
“Our partnership with NBC Sports, iRacing and NASCAR has been an incredible opportunity to bridge the gap between real-world racing and the esports phenomenon.” said Ian Busching, CEO of Dig Down Media. “This is a landmark moment for iRacing, and all racing esports,” adds Tony Gardner, president, iRacing.”
iRacing is the leading online simulation racing game where competitors race head-to-head from around the world. Following this week’s event, iRacing will return to NASCAR America on NBCSN on the last Thursday of every month for a four-race series. More information on the three future iRacing events on NBCSN will be revealed in the coming weeks.