Virtually unbeatable? iRacing ace Timmy Hill wins eNASCAR event at Texas Motor Speedway

Sunday was supposed to be one of NASCAR’s biggest races of the year, the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 from Texas Motor Speedway.

It still was, kind of.

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the sports world has virtually shut down, with virtually being the key word. For the second straight week NASCAR gave its fans a little taste of what things could have been like by running the O’Reilly Auto Parts 125 from the virtual Texas Motor Speedway.

The race, part of the eNASCAR iRAcing Pro Invitational Series, had some of the regular whistles and bells fans have become accustomed to seeing at the 11/2-mile quadoval.

There was a pre-race concert, this one done by country star Cole Swindell and shown on NASCAR’s social media feeds. There was a star singing the national anthem, with Grateful Dead founding member Bob Weir handling the duties from California. And if you needed proof that Sunday’s race was in Texas, the grand marshal for the race was none other than Troy Aikman.

And there was also a race, too, and it may have been more exciting than the one that was really supposed to be run Sunday at TMS. More than 50 drivers were vying for the 35-spot field on a Sunday that included last-chance qualifying for drivers not locked into the race, practice, real virtual qualifying and then a green flag.

The race even had a dramatic finish with iRacing veteran Timmy Hill edging Ryan Preece to win the race in overtime. While Hill is a journeyman who has never had a top-10 finish in his 22 starts at TMS in three series, his win Sunday was his 674th in iRacing.

Hill has received more exposure in two weeks of iRacing for himself and his title sponsor, a Florida-based roofing contractor, than he would have ever received this year racing in NASCAR. That wasn’t lost on him Sunday.

“I couldn’t be more excited,” Hill said. “It’s very exciting times for us because we just don’t get the recognition on a normal basis. To be on an even playing field is excellent. To be on this platform, the Cup platform, is exciting. The amount of folks that reached out to me has just been tremendous.”

Hill’s win was set up by a bump-and-run move on William Byron, who was on the pole and led 80 laps. Hill said he was willing to do what he need to win the race, something he’d do at any level. Hill said he didn’t know what to expect from Byron because they don’t normally race against each other in real NASCAR races because they’re at different levels competitively.

Garrett Smithley finished third and Landon Cassill fourth. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the first household name on the leader board with a sixth-place showing. Defending NASCAR champion Kyle Busch was 10th.

The racing may have been virtual but Hill said the simulators did a good job of creating what it feels like racing around TMS.

“It’s really, really realistic,” Hill said. “The details are really special, cool to be involved with. The racetrack is really, really close to life.”

For those who want NASCAR to condense their real weekend schedule, Sunday was like a virtual dream come true.

While TMS track president Eddie Gossage was unavailable for comment, the race was good for the TMS brand. The track did contests during the race on social media, and Gossage engaged with people from his Twitter account, even offering up an out-of-tune jingle pitch for the race sponsor.

The sim showed everything from the logos painted on the TMS grass to the Big Hoss television screen than stands outside the backstretch.

The track also got a boost of exposure as when the NASCAR series does resume, there will still be a real race at TMS at some point in the season. It’s like they got a bonus weekend of getting the TMS and sponsor names out there for a race that was broadcast everywhere from Finland to India. And people were watching, too. Last Sunday’s first virtual race was Fox Sport 1’s highest-rated show since the pandemic started and set a record for an eSports event on TV.

One thing Sunday’s race couldn’t simulate was the TMS Victory Lane. Instead of firing six shooters and donning a cowboy hat Hill got a glass of milk from his wife.

But he’s not giving up hope on getting that hat when real racing at Texas does resume.

“I’ll have to ask Eddie about that,” Hill said. “I hope to get a cowboy hat. I love how Texas celebrates their wins with the pistols and the cowboy hat. I would love to talk to Eddie about that.”