The 2021 eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series was the second and final season of the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series, a series of iRacing sim racing events originally organized for NASCAR drivers to compete in after its 2020 seasons were put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After the success of the series, NASCAR decided to bring it back on a more permanent basis in 2021, although this time, the races, 10 in total, would be held on Wednesday nights at least once a month. Additionally, Fox, which broadcast all of the races in the series in 2020, would be joined by NBC, the other channel that broadcasts real-life NASCAR races, this season, with each channel airing five races apiece. Fox and NBC would choose the racetracks that their races would be on. The series began on March 24 with a race at the virtual version of dirt Bristol Motor Speedway.
The Saturday Night Thunder series of races for drivers in NASCAR's lower series did not return in 2021. However, before each race, at least 10 drivers from NASCAR's lower series were selected to be on a ballot for a fan vote for one starting spot in each eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series race.
Teams and drivers
Chartered teams
Complete schedule
Limited schedule
Non-chartered teams
Complete schedule
Limited schedule
Notes
Schedule
On January 26, 2021, Fox announced the dates of their five races, and four of the five tracks that they would be on. On March 24, NASCAR, iRacing, and Fox announced that the fifth race of Fox's schedule of races for the series would take place at an imaginary street course in the Chicago Loop in Downtown Chicago.
Races
Bristol Dirt Race
Just like in the actual NASCAR Cup Series, all 36 chartered teams were given spots in the field, with four seats will be available to other teams. The drivers to take those four spots were chosen at the discretion of NASCAR on Fox. However, they only filled two of those four spots, which were for Dale Earnhardt Jr. driving a No. 88 car for his team, JR Motorsports, and their color commentator, the retired driver Clint Bowyer, driving a No. 79 car owned by himself, which was a Ford, the most recent manufacturer he had when he raced in the Cup Series. Also, the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing team of Kevin Harvick (who declined to participate in this race) was replaced by the open team of the No. 37 for JTG Daugherty Racing driven by Ryan Preece, a client of Harvick's sports management agency. After outrage online that the MBM Motorsports No. 66 driven by Timmy Hill, an open team in real-life Cup Series competition, was not invited to participate, Austin Cindric, who was to drive the No. 2 for Team Penske in place of Brad Keselowski (who also declined to participate), decided to give up his seat to Hill. The popular underdog driver won the race at Texas in Season One. Fans were able to make the hashtag "#LetTimmyRace" trending on Twitter the day before and of the race in support of Hill to be in the race.
Top ten finishers:
Talladega
After deciding not to participate in the Bristol Dirt iRacing event, Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick returned for this race. Because Kurt Busch, Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell were at Nashville Superspeedway that day for a test, it was announced when the entry list was posted that Busch and Briscoe would not be participating and that Bell would participate if he could make it home in time, but if not, he would be replaced in his No. 20 by Ty Gibbs. On the day of the race, it was announced that Briscoe would be entering the race after all since the tire test finished earlier than anticipated. However, Kurt Busch still did not enter.