Bubba Wallace is all about having a good time. That’s exactly what he and many others did during the inaugural Bubba’s Block Party last month at Richmond Raceway, located in the suburbs of Richmond, Va.
In a partnership between NASCAR and Wallace, the event was designed to engage new fan audiences and bring local families to the racetrack ahead of a full weekend of stock car racing action, which included the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Cup Series.
The Block Party was free to the public, though it was capped at roughly 2,000 fans, according to Wallace. At the event, those people got to experience NASCAR’s virtual iRacing on simulators, pit stop demonstrations and multi-platinum hip-hop artist Wale headlined the event with a live performance. There were also many Black-owned food trucks from the Richmond area.
“It was a deal that was like, ‘Why don’t we try this and let it marinate,’” Wallace recently said of the Block Party. “NASCAR jumped on it and wanted to see how we could go about it, what we could do. It’s a different demographic to be at the racetrack, which is really cool. Excited to see me, and not from a race fan standpoint, but from a person that they’ve heard about in recent years and they’re excited to be there and have Wale there to perform.
“The whole atmosphere was really cool and I actually enjoyed standing out there being a part of it.”
Wallace confirmed there will be another Block Party sometime in the playoffs, potentially at a track he’s performed well at in the past. He picked up his first Cup Series win at Talladega Superspeedway last fall.
Xfinity was excited about the event, too. Just a few weeks prior, the brand announced it will join Coca-Cola, Logitech, Playseat and Southern Computer Warehouse as a presenting sponsor for the upcoming eNASCAR College iRacing Series.
Qualifying for the series’ first race at virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway runs from Sept. 6-15. The race will be 80 laps, beginning at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Sept. 20. Competitors will run Xfinity Series cars, replicating the look and feel of the real-life series that’s produced many of the current Cup Series stars battling for the championship.
“We agreed to partner with NASCAR as one of the presenting sponsors of their college iRacing tour,” Matt Lederer, Comcast’s vice president, brand partnerships and amplification, said. “When we stepped up, though, we didn’t want to do just another logo slap. While…
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