Hill gets virtual victory at Texas

Charlotte, N.C.

NASCAR's new normal resumed Sunday with another virtual event, the second in an iRacing series thrown together after the coronavirus pandemic stopped nearly all sports. NASCAR's 36-race season was suspended four events into the year.

Timmy Hill won the virtual race at Texas Motor Speedway, where a highlight came when Daniel Suarez was parked by iRacing officials for intentionally trying — but failing — to crash Ty Dillon.

Hill is considered among the top competitors in iRacing, a subscription-based gaming platform. His virtual victory was his 674th in the game.

Fox Sports again used its team of Mike Joy and Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon to call the race, which was aired both on Fox in some markets and nationwide on its cable channel.

The first iRacing event last Sunday drew 903,000 viewers to Fox Sports One. That led Fox to offer affiliates the option to air the Texas virtual race on broadcast.

Those who tuned in watched a live video game of 35 NASCAR racers competing at an exact replica of Texas Motor Speedway, where the series was scheduled to be Sunday before the coronavirus shutdown. Fox was able to obtain feeds of drivers racing on simulators everywhere from their bedrooms, basements, garages and, in the case of last week's winner, Denny Hamlin's living room.

Clint Bowyer was the in-race reporter again, but when the booth cut to him to ask about an early race incident, he gave a quick update and shooed Joy and Gordon away.

"You guys are bothering me, sorry," Bowyer said.

Alex Bowman again gave fans commentary via social media. It included his tweet "I just virtually drove through somebody," after a wreck. Bowman also missed his pit stall, was speeding on pit road, bemoaned his need for a snack and ultimately "I'm a disaster."

Chase Elliott,...