Following the cancellation of motorsport series’ as the world continues to fight with the coronavirus, many drivers have been forced to adjust their skills for racing in the virtual world, including those from the world of NASCAR.
During an iRacing event over the weekend at a virtual Bristol Motor Speedway, driver Bubba Wallace who ordinary drives the #43 car for Richard Petty Motorsports was involved in a crash with Clint Bowyer. He wasn’t happy and ended up losing a sponsor.
Footage from the incident shows Wallace attempting to get past Bowyer but he gets rammed from the side and pushed into the concrete barriers. As soon as Wallace’s car respawned in the pit lane, he told his Twitch stream “That’s it. That’s why I don’t take this shit seriously. Peace out.” He then quit the game rather than rejoining the race a few laps behind the leaders.
GTK where you stand. Bye bye Bubba. We're interested in drivers, not quitters.
— Blue-Emu (@BlueEmu1) April 5, 2020
Before long, Wallace copped some criticism online for his decision to quit the race and he hit back, writing “Bahaha I’m dying at my mentions right now…I ruined so many peoples day by quitting..a video game…Bahaha. A video game. Damn quarantine life is rough.”
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Blue Emu, Wallace’s major sponsor for the race, wasn’t impressed and replied “GTK where you stand. Bye bye Bubba. We’re interested in drivers, not quitters.”
While the idea of watching virtual races may seem foreign to some, it has been proving quite popular with virtually all major sports canceled. In fact, NASCAR’s first iRacing event to be aired on FS1 in the United States drew in an impressive 903,000 viewers on March 22.