NASCAR (Franchise)

NASCAR

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The NASCAR license has been appearing in videogames for over 20 years.

Cover Drivers:

NASCAR Rivals (2022): Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, and Denny Hamlin
NASCAR Heat 5 Ultimate Edition+ (2021): Chase Elliott
NASCAR 21: Ignition (2021): Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, and Bubba Wallace
<p>NASCAR 21: Ignition Champions Edition (2021): Bill Elliott</p>
NASCAR Heat 5 (2020): Chase Elliott
NASCAR Heat 5 Gold Edition (2020): Tony Stewart
NASCAR Heat 4 (2019): Kevin Harvick
NASCAR Heat 4 Gold Edition (2019): Jeff Gordon
NASCAR Heat 3 (2018): Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, William Byron, and Jimmie Johnson
NASCAR Heat 2 (2017): Kyle Busch
NASCAR Heat Evolution (2016): Carl Edwards
NASCAR '15 Victory Edition: Joey Logano
NASCAR '15 (2015): Jeff Gordon
NASCAR '14 (2014): Tony Stewart
NASCAR The Game: 2013 (2013): Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
NASCAR The Game: Inside Line (2012): Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
NASCAR The Game: 2011 (2011): Jimmie Johnson and Danica Patrick (Cars only)
NASCAR 09 (2008): Jeff Gordon
NASCAR 09 Best Buy Edition (2008): Elliott Sadler
NASCAR 08 (2007): Tony Stewart
NASCAR 07 (2006): Elliott Sadler
NASCAR 06: Total Team Control (2005): Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson
NASCAR SimRacing (2005): Ryan Newman (Car only)
NASCAR 2005 (2004): Chase For The Cup (2004): Kevin Harvick
NASCAR Thunder 2004 (2003): Tony Stewart
NASCAR Racing 2003 Season (2003): Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick (Cars only)
NASCAR Thunder 2003 (2002): Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
NASCAR Racing 2002 Season (2002): Kevin Harvick, Terry Labonte, and Dale Jarrett
NASCAR Thunder 2002 (2001): Jeff Gordon
NASCAR Racing 4 (2001): Jeff Burton (Car only)
NASCAR 2001 (2000): Tony Stewart (Car only)
NASCAR Legends (1999): Richard Petty
NASCAR 2000 (1999): Dale Earnhardt and Terry Labonte (Cars only)
NASCAR Racing 3 (1999): Bobby Labonte and Dale Jarrett (Cars only)
NASCAR Revolution (1999): Dale Earnhardt (Car only)
NASCAR Racing 1999 Edition (1998): Dale Earnhardt (Car only)
NASCAR 99 (1998): Dale Earnhardt, Mark Martin, Terry Labonte, and Kyle Petty (Cars only)
NASCAR 98 (1997): Jeff Gordon (Car only)

Early years

While the first game based on NASCAR was Richard Petty's Talladega (1985), these were highly unrealistic. No official NASCAR licensed game was released until Bill Elliott's NASCAR challenge in 1991 by Konami (Company).

Pre EA

Before EA acquired the exclusive rights for the NASCAR license Papyrus/Sierra (Company) delivered quality racing on the PC with there NASCAR Racing (Franchise) series. Other companies to publish/develop NASCAR games include Hasbro, infogames& Monster Games to name a few

Post EA

EA lost the NASCAR license after the 2009 calender year, most likely due to the lack of innovation from year to year. There last NASCAR game was NASCAR Kart Racing (Game) on the Wii, while the last game to truly resemble NASCAR was NASCAR 09 (Game). Fans have no need to worry though as you can find a growing NASCAR influence on iRacing.com, Gran Turismo 5 (Game) (set to include 2009 cars & a few tracks) & Days of Thunder: NASCAR Edition (a re release of Days of Thunder (Game) more resembling NASCAR then the movie).

Rumors were swirling around that Codemasters (Company) was not only interested but the leading candidate to pick up the license. However,Eutechnyx ended up picking it up and is now the owner of the NASCAR IP. NASCAR The Game 2011 was announced back in September 2009, and was revealed that Activision (Company) would publish the game, while Eutechnyxwould be the developer. It was due to release on February 15th to coincide with the Daytona 500, but was delayed due to technical reasons. The game was officially released on March 29th for both the Xbox 360 (Platform) and PlayStation 3 (Platform). The Wii (Platform) version of the game, however, has been delayed to May 24th, 2011 for unspecified technical reasons.

9/23/10

An article on Gamasutra gives the following rumors about NASCAR 2011

Release: Two weeks before the 2011 Daytona 500 (Feb. 20) Developer: Eutechnyx Publisher: Activision (Company)

9/29/10

The game was officially announced by Eutechnyxand was due for release in February 2011 to coincide with the Daytona 500 race. However, the game was delayed a month to fix technical problems with the game.

Games

Bill Elliott's NASCAR Challenge

27 April 1991

Platforms/AmigaPlatforms/PCPlatforms/MacPlatforms/Nintendo Entertainment System

NASCAR Track Pack (Game)

3 June 1991