Throughout NASCAR, there are different communities of fans, including diecast collectors, tailgaters, and amateur racers, to name a few. These communities are diverse and made up of people from all walks of life, and the iRacing community is no different.
The iRacing community has also supplied NASCAR fans with ways to connect to drivers from the comfort of their homes. As fans work their way up the iRacing ladder, they sometimes find themselves racing alongside future stars, Cup Series Regulars, and childhood heroes.
One well-known iRacing Content Creator, Cierra, better known by her screen name CierRaces, has had her virtual battles with NASCAR talent such as Carson Hocevar, Daniel Dye, and Josh Berry. In her roughly three years in the virtual world of racing, Cirrea has grown her iRacing content into some of the most must-watch streams in the community.
That being said, Cierra is relatively new to the NASCAR scene. “My fiancée, he’s been watching NASCAR for about 20 years,” Cierra said. “So when we first started dating, it would always be on in the background, and then, we went to the 2022 Daytona 500, when Cindric won, and that was kind of what started my love.”
While there is no better story than someone becoming a fan of NASCAR by attending its most prestigious race, for Cierra, who had begun iRacing around the same time, this new interest in the sport translated into her iRacing interests as well.
Though she began her iRacing career with a heavy focus on sportscar racing, Cierra told the Daily Downforce that as she continued to watch NASCAR, the interconnectivity that NASCAR brought to iRacing grew her interest in the virtual side of the sport.
“I was watching every week, and I was like, wait, I want to know what it feels like to drive this track with this car,” Cierra said. “So I would go and do that, and then it would just make me understand the race that weekend more.”
One thing that Cierra noticed as part of the NASCAR iRacing community was the small yet growing amount of female representation on track. Though there are few women in the NASCAR iRacing community, much like the top circuits of NASCAR, more and more women are signing up and proving themselves on track.
“I realized that not a lot of women are in the iRacing NASCAR community. If there are women doing iRacing, they’re mostly doing sports cars and GTs and all that kind of stuff. … I was racing a lot of PickUp Cup, which is like unofficial iRacing, and that was a lot of fun, but I got to the point where I was like, wait, I think I can actually do this for real.”
Rather than using her words to defend herself, Cierra enjoys using her skills on track to silence any doubters who might have something to say. This includes the occasional victory over smart-mouthed competitors.
“I’ve noticed that when you’re doing drafting tracks, a lot of people like to work with each other, and I guess I just noticed, as being a female, a lot of people don’t want to work with me. So, there’s been many different times in racing where some guys are being mean, but I love it when I can change their opinion.”
As many NASCAR content creators know, one benefit of being a part of the NASCAR community is the support network of fellow fans and hobbyists. In a sport like NASCAR, most media members, drivers, and content creators were all fans at one time, and this commonality has created a strong online community in NASCAR.
This is no different for Cierra, who claims that her iRacing content’s shift into the NASCAR community helped her grow her notoriety.
“When I started doing NASCAR is when I kind of started noticing my content was picking up.”
Since she began creating NASCAR iRacing Content, Cierra’s following online has grown to over 7,000 followers on Twitch, 1.2K subscribers on YouTube, and over 5,000 followers on Instagram. Her journey to where she is now is due in part to the ever-supportive NASCAR community.
Read similar stories from the NASCAR community in the February-March edition of NASCAR Pole Position.
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