How to Steer Your Oval Racing Career on iRacing

Getting serious about oval racing on iRacing can be a wild and rewarding ride. Whether you're dreaming of virtual NASCAR glory or just want to climb the ranks steadily in a competitive environment, here’s a structured guide to help steer your sim racing career in the right direction:

First you need to learn the fundamentals. Oval Racing is very different from Sports Car Circuit Racing and different principles apply. The Rookie Street Stock Series by Fanatec is a great entry point, offering close racing in entry level stock cars on short ovals. All oval race cars are very pure, and you have no driving aids at all. Here you learn general race craft, understand flags, practice restarts, and avoid wrecks. Safety Rating (SR) is king early on to progress to Class D quickly.

If you pursue a classic NASCAR career, we recommend participating in the ARCA Menards Series in Class D. This series visits different ovals and uses outdated NASCAR Cup cars from previous seasons. This is where you’ll learn how to race stock cars with a lot of power on all kinds of tracks. You will find out quickly that every oval is different and requires a different driving style from track to track. Try to experiment with different lines through the banked corners but be mindful of your tire degradation. Saving tires is key in oval racing and when done properly it gives you a key advantage towards the end of the race.

Class C gives you entry to official NASCAR series, starting with the NASCAR Trucks (NASCAR Class C Maconi Series). The trucks are pretty unique, they are quite heavy with a medium amount of horsepower and a lot of chassis movement at entry/exit of corners. On most tracks they have a decent amount of grip and therefore provide very close racing. It is one of the most participated oval racing series on the service and it is quite competitive.

Here you gain access to the NASCAR Xfinity Series. These cars are very close to NASCAR Cup car level, but they have a little less power and less aerodynamics. However, lacking the aero, it makes them quite a handful to drive and this series separates the casual oval racers to the ones that really understand the car. The skill gap can be quite big here. With these cars you have to be on your toes during the whole race, while managing tires and not wrecking yourself!

Finally, you’ve reached the top class and can race proper Cup cars in the NASCAR Class A Series. With the most power and a decent level of aerodynamics, these are by far the fastest stock cars. In this series you will race all kind of ovals the service has to offer, ranging from short tracks to Superspeedways. This series also follows the real-life NASCAR schedule so every week you will race the same track like the real drivers do!

With this, you should have a rough guideline on how to approach your oval sim racing career on iRacing. All the oval racing principles you learn during your journey apply through all series, mainly saving tires and choosing the right pit stop strategy during cautions. But remember, while racing in an oval, your car is always on the edge of its limit, so try to stay consistent and keep it out of the wall!