For decades, aspiring race car drivers followed a familiar path. Start in karting, work through local tracks, attract sponsors, and hope the opportunities eventually lead somewhere bigger. According to NASCAR Senior Director of Sim Racing Ray Smith, that path is changing. While traditional grassroots racing remains important, Smith believes simulator racing has become one of the most effective ways for aspiring drivers and motorsports professionals to break into the industry. “You want to write music, you go to Nashville. You want to be a model, you go to New York. You want to be an actor, you go to L.A. You want to be in motorsports, you go to Indy or Charlotte,” Smith told Insider Gaming. “But nowadays, you want to be in motorsports, go to the sim, go to iRacing.” It is a significant statement from one of the people overseeing NASCAR’s esports efforts, particularly as sim racing continues to grow following its explosion in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. - More Sim Racing: The Best Things I Saw At SimRacing Expo Charlotte 2026 While drivers such as William Byron and Rajah Caruth have become some of the most recognizable examples of competitors who used sim racing as a stepping stone toward real-world opportunities, Smith said the impact extends far beyond those headline stories. “Four out of five of our last champions are now sim engineers in a Cup shop,” Smith said. “We have content creators coming out of our series.” The opportunities created through sim racing are no longer limited to getting behind the wheel. Smith pointed to careers in engineering, media, content creation, and team operations that have emerged through connections built within the online racing community. “We have guys that are journalists, content creators, engineers,” Smith said. “You can see it on our storyboard over there.”