NASCAR Finally Goes Online

More than a year after the service was initially launched, Sierra and NASCAR are officially launching the NASCAR Racing Online Series (NROS) on November 23.

NROS is an officially sanctioned NASCAR racing competition that is hosted by TEN, using Sierra’s NASCAR Racing 2. While NASCAR fans have spent the past year racing in their own fan-created racing leagues, NROS will allow them to race in an officially recognized league, governed and overseen by the same organization under which real-world drivers race.

Sean Gleason, director of marketing for Sierra Sports, says that the company got the service up and running last year, but that at that time there was no organized racing structure. Still, Sierra claims that approximately 10,000 players have raced online, averaging 7 million user-minutes per month. Meanwhile, Sierra was slowly working out the kinks in the system. One problem involved races that featured a number of veteran drivers and a single rookie driver. Although the veteran drivers should have posted good scores, mistakes by the rookie driver often led to crashes that affected the other drivers.

According to John Billington, NROS product manager, the new ranking system “takes into account the number of incidents you have.” That, combined with other factors, determines a skill level for each individual racer. Races can then be created that include, or lock out, specific skill levels.

The 1998 NROS Cup will consist of a two-month racing series culminating in a final race at the 1999 Daytona 500. The series will be broken up into three divisions: Novice, Intermediate, and Pro. The top eight finalists in the Pro division of the NROS Cup will be flown to Daytona, Florida, where they’ll battle for their share of cash and prizes. However, the final races for both the Novice and Intermediate divisions will take place online. Overall, more than $30,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded.

Because it’s hosted on TEN, prospective NROS members first need to be premium subscribers to the online gaming service. In addition, there is a $14.95 membership fee for NROS itself. There’s a temporary respite from the latter fee, but you’ll have to act fast: Sierra is waiving the NROS registration cost for those who sign up by Sunday, November 15.