This week sees the first major oval iRacing Special Event, the Daytona 500. With the help of NASCAR pro sim racer and OverTake community member Quami Scott, we have put together a guide to help out all those who plan to tackle it.
The NASCAR season begins this weekend and running in conjunction with it, all of the rounds will also be on iRacing. It all kicks off with the crown jewel of stock car oval racing, the Daytona 500 on the full 2.5-mile superspeedway for 200 laps. From the perspective of those who tackle complex road course tracks, it may seem easy to just turn to the left for four hours.
In truth, there is a lot more to it which is why we have employed the assistance of @YungQuami aka Quami Scott, a second-year pro in the eNASCAR iRacing Series. Thanks to his experience in oval racing, a lot of advice he has could go a very long way to helping you achieve glory.
However, this does not mean you cannot put yourself in better positions to have luck mostly in your favor. Racing side by side in the pack at times can feel very gridlocked. But understanding which lane has the most energy and how the air works around other cars is key to gaining track position. Your speeds in the pack can be almost 30 miles an hour quicker than when you're by yourself so staying behind the wake of the car in front is super important.
This is much harder if you happen to be at the tail end of the line. If you lose the pack, the only way you’re catching back up is with a yellow. When you’re drafting the car in front, try to stay within half a car length at all times. If you leave a space big enough for a car in the opposite lane, it’s very likely they will slot themselves in and you don’t want to get shuffled too far back in your lane.
You also however don’t want to be directly on someone’s rear bumper as check-ups will happen very frequently. Always be ready to lift off the throttle slightly or even apply a little brake. Unless you’re trying to decrease the gap to the car in front, you normally won’t be fully on the throttle anyways. Just stay predictable.
Another thing to note is the side draft is really strong with the Next Gens, more so on the right side than the left. Anytime there’s a car directly on your right rear, your engine will bog down and lose speed. The force can even pull you into them at times.
There really is nothing you can do about it other than keep away when this happens, this is what makes the outside lane the preferred line around Daytona and superspeedways in general. This can obviously vary at different times of the race depending on how well the cars in each line are working together but this is usually the case.
Occasionally, a hole will open up on a lane that may or may not be going much faster than yours. You'll have to make a judgement call on whether or not you want to make the move. If you are, just be quick and decisive about the lane change as you will only have maybe a few seconds before the opportunity is gone. Don’t wait too long or else you might find yourself pointed in the wrong direction.
Just find someone in practice to swap roles with so you have experience doing both. Sometimes, you’ll find that you don’t work well with another driver so keep searching until you find a good partner. Just remember to always watch your temperature when you're pushing. You can only stay on their bumper for about a lap before your engine starts to overheat so keep an eye on your oil and water temp.
If either of these numbers turn red, that means you’re about to blow! It’s best to lay off on the corners and push on the straights. Peaking your nose out a bit so you have some clean air can also help with keeping your engine cool. Just whatever you do, DON’T push the pusher.
Vision is tough when you're tucked in the pack so always try to have a line of sight of the field in front of you. The minute you see smoke or your spotter tells you there’s a wreck, SLOW DOWN. If you're lucky, you should be able to get through wrecks with all four wheels still on your race car. Even if you do find yourself in a big crash early, there may be hope for you to still continue on.
As long as you don’t have any major wheel, engine or suspension damage, anything just body related is fully repairable! Just get all of it fixed at some point so you can get back out there with a brand spanking new race car. Decision making will be the ultimate factor when it comes to finishing the Daytona 500. Just stay out of trouble and try to make some friends along the way, you may need them for the white flag lap!
Thank you to Quami for all of that insight, and if anyone learns more from seeing it all in practice, watch back the broadcast of yesterday's eNASCAR season opener where Quami along with the other 39 pro NASCAR sim racers on iRacing did battle at Daytona.
The event can be accessed via the NASCAR iRacing Series as opposed to a dedicated tab like the majority of Special Events. The series comes in both Fixed and Open setup form, so fear not if you are not particularly setup savvy. Here are all timeslots as follows:
The 02:00 UTC open setup timeslot is the one that will most likely have the highest Strength of Field since it is the one that will have its top split broadcast by iRacing. If you are not that keen on doing it yourself and fancy seeing the best of the bunch on iRacing do battle, tune in to that instead and see if they can somehow top last year's finish, in which the winner Blake McCandless did so by 0.001 seconds.
Will you be tempted to give the Daytona 500 iRacing Special Event a go this year? Let us know in the comments below, and join the discussion in our iRacing forum!
The NASCAR season begins this weekend and running in conjunction with it, all of the rounds will also be on iRacing. It all kicks off with the crown jewel of stock car oval racing, the Daytona 500 on the full 2.5-mile superspeedway for 200 laps. From the perspective of those who tackle complex road course tracks, it may seem easy to just turn to the left for four hours.
In truth, there is a lot more to it which is why we have employed the assistance of @YungQuami aka Quami Scott, a second-year pro in the eNASCAR iRacing Series. Thanks to his experience in oval racing, a lot of advice he has could go a very long way to helping you achieve glory.
iRacing Daytona 500 Guide: Pack Racing
Kurt Busch once said “it’s better sometimes to be lucky than good.” When it comes to superspeedway racing, this statement couldn’t be any more true. In this style of close-quarters, high-speed racing, it is almost inevitable for a giant crash to happen at any moment. Going into these events, it is important that you understand this is simply the nature of these races, which is what makes this kind of racing so thrilling in the first place.However, this does not mean you cannot put yourself in better positions to have luck mostly in your favor. Racing side by side in the pack at times can feel very gridlocked. But understanding which lane has the most energy and how the air works around other cars is key to gaining track position. Your speeds in the pack can be almost 30 miles an hour quicker than when you're by yourself so staying behind the wake of the car in front is super important.
This is much harder if you happen to be at the tail end of the line. If you lose the pack, the only way you’re catching back up is with a yellow. When you’re drafting the car in front, try to stay within half a car length at all times. If you leave a space big enough for a car in the opposite lane, it’s very likely they will slot themselves in and you don’t want to get shuffled too far back in your lane.
You also however don’t want to be directly on someone’s rear bumper as check-ups will happen very frequently. Always be ready to lift off the throttle slightly or even apply a little brake. Unless you’re trying to decrease the gap to the car in front, you normally won’t be fully on the throttle anyways. Just stay predictable.
Another thing to note is the side draft is really strong with the Next Gens, more so on the right side than the left. Anytime there’s a car directly on your right rear, your engine will bog down and lose speed. The force can even pull you into them at times.
There really is nothing you can do about it other than keep away when this happens, this is what makes the outside lane the preferred line around Daytona and superspeedways in general. This can obviously vary at different times of the race depending on how well the cars in each line are working together but this is usually the case.
Occasionally, a hole will open up on a lane that may or may not be going much faster than yours. You'll have to make a judgement call on whether or not you want to make the move. If you are, just be quick and decisive about the lane change as you will only have maybe a few seconds before the opportunity is gone. Don’t wait too long or else you might find yourself pointed in the wrong direction.
Bump Drafting
Now we come to bump drafting, mainly utilized when you’re the second or third car in line. Good bump drafting requires a lot of precision and coordination between the lead car and the pusher. The lead car needs to stay steady and predictable as possible while the pusher must stay glued to the lead car’s rear bumper without hooking them, this skill takes practice so don’t expect to master it in a day.Just find someone in practice to swap roles with so you have experience doing both. Sometimes, you’ll find that you don’t work well with another driver so keep searching until you find a good partner. Just remember to always watch your temperature when you're pushing. You can only stay on their bumper for about a lap before your engine starts to overheat so keep an eye on your oil and water temp.
If either of these numbers turn red, that means you’re about to blow! It’s best to lay off on the corners and push on the straights. Peaking your nose out a bit so you have some clean air can also help with keeping your engine cool. Just whatever you do, DON’T push the pusher.
Take Your Time
Getting to the checkered flag of the Daytona 500 will likely take a minimum of three hours. Don’t be that guy constantly switching lanes and squeezing your nose in places it shouldn’t be. These are the drivers who probably won’t even make it to the halfway mark and you don’t want to get caught in their mess. Stay aware of areas in the pack that are looking a bit sketchy so you can be ready to take evasive action when the big one happens.Vision is tough when you're tucked in the pack so always try to have a line of sight of the field in front of you. The minute you see smoke or your spotter tells you there’s a wreck, SLOW DOWN. If you're lucky, you should be able to get through wrecks with all four wheels still on your race car. Even if you do find yourself in a big crash early, there may be hope for you to still continue on.
As long as you don’t have any major wheel, engine or suspension damage, anything just body related is fully repairable! Just get all of it fixed at some point so you can get back out there with a brand spanking new race car. Decision making will be the ultimate factor when it comes to finishing the Daytona 500. Just stay out of trouble and try to make some friends along the way, you may need them for the white flag lap!
Thank you to Quami for all of that insight, and if anyone learns more from seeing it all in practice, watch back the broadcast of yesterday's eNASCAR season opener where Quami along with the other 39 pro NASCAR sim racers on iRacing did battle at Daytona.
How to Compete
In order to be eligible to run the Daytona 500 on iRacing, you need at the bare minimum a D-class oval licence and a 4.0 safety rating. Of course you have to pick up the Daytona track and one of the three Next Gen Cup Series cars.The event can be accessed via the NASCAR iRacing Series as opposed to a dedicated tab like the majority of Special Events. The series comes in both Fixed and Open setup form, so fear not if you are not particularly setup savvy. Here are all timeslots as follows:
- 12 February - 21:00 UTC (Fixed)
- 13 February - 02:00 UTC (Open)
- 13 February - 19:00 UTC (Open)
- 14 February - 02:00 UTC (Fixed)
- 15 February - 02:00 UTC (Open)
- 15 February - 10:00 UTC (Fixed)
- 15 February - 17:00 UTC (Fixed)
- 16 February - 15:00 UTC (Open)
- 17 February - 02:00 UTC (Fixed)
The 02:00 UTC open setup timeslot is the one that will most likely have the highest Strength of Field since it is the one that will have its top split broadcast by iRacing. If you are not that keen on doing it yourself and fancy seeing the best of the bunch on iRacing do battle, tune in to that instead and see if they can somehow top last year's finish, in which the winner Blake McCandless did so by 0.001 seconds.
Will you be tempted to give the Daytona 500 iRacing Special Event a go this year? Let us know in the comments below, and join the discussion in our iRacing forum!
