Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Max Chilton have confirmed that they will be contesting this weekend’s IndyCar iRacing challenge from a virtual Michigan International Speedway, a track that IndyCar has not raced at since 2007.
Earnhardt Jr. had previously expressed interest in running in the series, and was said to be waiting on an invitation to join. He has now received that invite and, after 18 full seasons in the NASCAR Cup Series, will try his hand at a virtual IndyCar run.
“I don’t have a lot of time in that car on the sim,” admitted Earnhardt Jr. “I’m going to get with some of my buddies who do, try to get up to speed really fast. I just don’t want to make a fool of myself.”
Earnhardt Jr. joins seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson and Australian Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin as drivers who have come over from other series to join in the action. McLaughlin, unlike the others, is using this opportunity to kick start his real-world IndyCar career and made another fine impression last week by beating the regular IndyCar drivers to victory.
Max Chilton, who is set to run a partial season once the IndyCar series gets running later this year, has also confirmed that he will be taking part in this weekend’s race. Chilton voluntarily stopped racing oval races last year, but this digital outlet brings none of the risks that a real-life high-speed event would carry.
Last week’s iRacing event saw a packed field of 29 drivers competing at Barber Motorsports Park. It is not known at this time if all the drivers from last week will be running this week, but if so the additional drivers would result in an impressive 31 car lineup.
The race from Michigan is the first in the online series to be contested at an oval and will bring new challenges to the drivers. The two-mile banked ovals produce fantastic speeds, with the early 2000s era cars running in excess of 220 miles per hour.
The race from Michigan will take place this Saturday, April 11 at 14:30 Eastern Time and will once again be commentated by the regular IndyCar television crew.
