Bryan Cook Wins Virtual NASCAR Race in a ‘Bitcoin Car’
Recently, one Bitcoin fan won a virtual NASCAR race — featuring the current NASCAR Cup Series Drivers’ Champion Kyle Busch — in a white and orange car that was covered with the Bitcoin logo.
The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). Kyle Busch is the current Drivers’ Champion; he won his second championship in 2019.
One of the strongest teams in NASCAR is Joe Gibbs Racing, which is owned by former American football (NFL) coach Joe Jackson Gibbs and is headquartered in Huntersville , North Carolina.
One of the team’s seven racing drivers is Kyle Busch. The team’s Chief Digital Officer is Bryan “Boris” Cook.
iRacing is an online motorsport racing simulation that allows member of the public willing to pay a monthly subscription fee to take part in virtual racing.
iRacing’s simulations support driving in “a NASCAR Cup car, a World of Outlaws Sprint car, an open-wheel IndyCar, an Australian Supercar, an IMSA Prototype or Touring Car, or the ultimate: an FIA Grand Prix car.”
What you need to race are “a computer equipped with one or more USB ports, and a digital wheel/pedal, or gamepad backed by a high-speed Internet connection.”
The iRacing virtual NASCAR race that took place last Tuesday (April 21) — the LeafFilter Gutter Protection Replacements iRacing Series at the virtual Talladega Superspeedway — was won by Cook in car #63, which was covered with the Bitcoin logo. You can watch a full race replay at iRacing’s Facebook page.
After the race, Cook started a thread on Reddit — in the /Bitcoin subreddit — in which he explained what he had managed to accomplish:
“I won in the virtual Bitcoin race car tonight and beat the real Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kyle Busch, and other pro drivers in front of 50,000+ live viewers. Woohoo!!”
He then went on to say:
“It’s not often you get the chance to compete against your heroes, much less best them. Thankful for the opportunity tonight.”
According to ESPN, this event was an exhibition race for the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series — which is “a competition between professional NASCAR drivers using computer racing wheels to pilot virtual race cars from their homes” — and more than 50% of the racers were professional NASCAR drivers.
The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series is “the premiere esports league that is sanctioned by NASCAR.” This league started in 2010 and is “one the longest running, officially sanctioned, esports racing series.”
