704Games Launches NASCAR Heat Champions: Road to Miami, A New Mass-Market NASCAR Esports Tournament

More than $10,000 in prizes on the line in multi-week competition in NASCAR Heat 3, Coming Sept. 7 to PlayStation®4, Xbox One and Windows PC

704Games, NASCAR's exclusive esports partner for simulation-style video games on console platforms, announced today NASCAR Heat Champions: Road to Miami, a weekly esports competition in the upcoming video game NASCAR Heat 3. Spanning the 2018 NASCAR Playoffs, NASCAR Heat Champions: Road to Miami will culminate at Homestead-Miami Speedway during Ford Championship Weekend with over $500,000 in potential prize money up for grabs.

"Fresh off the launch of NASCAR Heat 3, NASCAR Heat Champions: Road to Miami launches our first esports tournament so fans can literally play along with the real-world NASCAR Playoffs," said Ed Martin, President of 704Games. "NASCAR Heat Champions: Road to Miami is the first NASCAR esports competition of its kind on video game consoles, accessible to NASCAR fans across the U.S., making it a truly one-of-a-kind experience."

Players can compete online in NASCAR Heat 3 starting Sept. 10, 2018 and running through Nov. 11, 2018. Fans can qualify at home weekly by posting their fastest total race times to qualify for the final tournament in Miami. Weekly tournaments will alternate between the Xbox One and PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system. Three additional finalists will race their way in at Homestead-Miami Speedway at Esports Arena Drive, North America's first mobile esports arena.

704Games will fly weekly finalists and a guest to Miami for Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The NASCAR Heat Champions: Road to Miami esports finale will take place Sunday, Nov. 18, and award $10,000 in prize money, Audeze Mobius gaming headsets, and an exclusive race weekend package from Homestead-Miami Speedway.

As a bonus, if the winner of NASCAR Heat Champions: Road to Miami correctly predicts the official total race time of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 within five seconds, they will win an additional $500,000.

"As we strengthen our position in the esports arena, tournaments like NASCAR Heat Champions: Road to Miami continue to enhance fan engagement with our sport," said Blake Davidson, NASCAR Vice President of Consumer Innovation. "Fans will get a thrill from weekly competitions and finalists get to share this championship event with the best drivers in the world at Homestead, one of the most anticipated race weekends of the season."

"For the past 17 years, Homestead-Miami Speedway has been synonymous with NASCAR champions. And now the 2018 Ford Championship Weekend will have one more champion to crown in 704Games' NASCAR Heat 3," said Homestead-Miami Speedway President Matthew Becherer. "Not only will we have the Championship 4 drivers in each national series vying for a title, but NASCAR Heat Champions: Road to Miami, will bring us 12 additional finalists competing to win it all. The battle to make it to Miami should be an exciting one."

NASCAR Heat Champions: Road to Miami is the culmination of a focused effort from both 704Games and NASCAR to engage new and existing fans through esports. The mass-market reach of NASCAR Heat 3 creates an unparalleled esports opportunity for NASCAR fans around the country. In 2019, 704Games will look to expand NASCAR Heat Champions as a mainstay of the sport.

Fans can visit www.NASCARHeatChampions.com for further details and the official rules of NASCAR Heat Champions: Road to Miami.

NASCAR Heat 3 will be available on Sept. 7, 2018, on the PlayStation®4 system, Xbox One and Windows PC via Steam. Fans can pre-order today at www.NASCARHeat.com.

Source: PR Newswire

About 704Games

704Games is a video game publisher and developer focused on delivering high-quality experiences on console and mobile. 704Games, a video game licensee of NASCAR, released NASCAR Heat 2 on the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and Xbox One in September 2017. The gaming company also released NASCAR Heat Mobile, the first authentic NASCAR mobile racing game on iOS and Android devices, in 2017. 704Games is headquartered at NASCAR Plaza in Charlotte, North Carolina. For more information, please visit www.704Games.com.

About Homestead-Miami Speedway

Homestead-Miami Speedway has been open since 1995 following an initiative to spur economic recovery in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew. The Speedway, which was founded by Miami businessman, racing enthusiast and philanthropist Ralph Sanchez, is a 650-acre facility that features a 1.5-mile oval and 2.21-mile road course. The Speedway hosts on-track events nearly 300 days per year and generates more than $301 million annually for the region. In 2017, NASCAR crowned champions in all three of its national series at Homestead-Miami Speedway during Ford Championship Weekend for the 16th consecutive year (2002-17). Champions crowned at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2017 were Martin Truex Jr. (Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series), William Byron (NASCAR XFINITY Series) and Christopher Bell (NASCAR Camping World Truck Series). 2018 Ford Championship Weekend will be held November 16-18.

About Audeze

Audeze LLC is the California-based high-end audio manufacturer delivering the most accurate sound reproduction available today. Audeze products, engineered with the latest innovations in materials science and technology, are built with precision craftsmanship. Audeze's commitment to research, development, and uncompromised audio is reflected in every facet of our leading-edge products, and has earned Audeze the distinction of being the world's best reviewed headphone brand.

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Clauson Organ Recipients To Serve as Driven2SaveLives BC39 Grand Marshals

Be Like Bryan

The inaugural Driven2SaveLives BC39 presented by NOS Energy Drink will have a fitting pair of honorary race starters in a celebration of the life and legacy of late race car driver and event namesake Bryan Clauson.

Dan Alexander and Dan Gerdes, two Nebraska residents who received life-saving organ donations from Clauson, will serve as grand marshals of the event and wave the green flag on the 39-lap USAC P1 Insurance National Midget Championship feature Thursday, Sept. 6 at The Dirt Track at IMS.

☝️more day until midgets hit the track for the first time ever at @IMS
Have you ever wondered how the #Driven2SaveLives #BC39 came to be? Watch below to find out! pic.twitter.com/oEaB2vBZmq

— Driven2SaveLives (@Driven2Save) September 4, 2018

The race on the new, quarter-mile clay oval inside Turn 3 of the famed IMS asphalt oval honors late USAC champion and three-time Indianapolis 500 starter Clauson and increases awareness of the Indiana Donor Network and its Driven2SaveLives campaign. A USAC-record 118 Midget cars are entered.

“Seeing both Dan Alexander and Dan Gerdes wave the green to start this historic race will provide an emotional and worthy tribute in Bryan’s honor,” Indianapolis Motor Speedway President J. Douglas Boles said. “So many members of this record-breaking field knew Bryan well, and they’ll be racing with extra passion and inspiration on Thursday night after such a moving celebration of his living legacy.”

Alexander, a 65-year old resident of Papillion, Nebraska, received Clauson’s heart. Gerdes, a 29-year-old resident of Auburn, Nebraska, received Clauson’s lungs. Clauson passed away following injuries sustained in a Midget car crash in 2016, but he saved five lives through organ donation and healed up to 75 people through tissue donation.

Clauson’s family works tirelessly in support of Driven2SaveLives, a grassroots effort among the racing community to support increased organ, tissue and eye donor registration. Indiana Donor Network and Verizon INDYCAR Series driver Stefan Wilson launched the campaign in April 2016 following the death of his brother and fellow INDYCAR driver Justin Wilson. Today, the campaign honors both Wilson and Clauson. To register to become an organ and tissue donor or to learn more, visit: https://driven2savelives.org.

#ICYMI: @timclauson to present special challenge coins to drivers/car owners @Driven2Save #BC39 race @IMS Wednesday. #BCforever #ParkedIt @INDonorNetwork
Info: https://t.co/BcuwKmMBYM
🎟️: https://t.co/6V53mLWUnK … pic.twitter.com/8ljjR93102

— Ryan Liggett (@RyanLiggettNews) September 5, 2018

Clauson was one of the most popular USAC racers in history and also climbed to the Indianapolis 500. He raced in the 2012, 2015 and 2016 Indy 500’s, leading laps in the 100th Running of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” in 2016.

He was a three-time USAC National Midget Series Champion, two-time USAC National Sprint Car Champion and three-time USAC National Drivers Champion. He also won the 2014 Chili Bowl and was elected into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2018.

source

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Ford and Brad Keselowski Sweep Darlington Raceway

Someone get Brad a Broom - Sweeps 'The Track Too Tough to Tame'

Brad Keselowski, driving the No. 2 Team Penske Ford Fusion, won his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race this season, at the iconic Darlington Raceway on Sunday night in the Southern 500. In addition, on Saturday afternoon, Keselowski recorded his first career win at South Carolina’s historic speedway in the NASCAR Xfinity Race Sport Clips Haircuts 200.

“Congratulations to Brad, Roger, Team Penske and Ford Performance for sweeping the Southern 500 Throwback weekend at Darlington,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. "Brad was on top of his game and his pit crew came through big time on the last stop of the race Sunday night! An awesome 1-2 finish for Team Penske on Sunday and 1-2 finish on Saturday afternoon for Team Penske and Stewart-Haas Racing."

In a grueling race during NASCAR’s throwback weekend, Keselowski was running second to Kyle Larson until the last caution on lap 345. Keselowski and his pit crew won the race off pit road, giving Keselowski the final race lead for the remaining 19 laps. Teammate Joey Logano crossed the finish line in second place to make it a 1–2 finish for Team Penske.

“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to my pit crew,” Brad Keselowski stated in Victory Lane. “We were running second and that last stop they nailed it and got us out in the lead. I thought Kyle was really good, and he was flat-out flying. I know how it goes. In 2015 we led a bunch of laps and lost it on the last pit stop and today my team won it on the last pit stop.”

Five Ford Performance teams finished in the Top-12; in front of a packed stadium at Darlington Raceway:

1. Keselowski (P1)
2. Logano (P2)
3. Kevin Harvick (P4)
4. Kurt Busch (P6)
5. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (P12)

Ford has seven drivers locked into playoff positions with one race remaining at Indianapolis before the MENCS Playoffs’ kick off in Las Vegas. Harvick leads the Playoff field in the number one position with 40 points.

Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Clint Bowyer, Busch and Aric Almirola are fourth, eighth and fourteenth. In addition, Team Penske teammates have also clinched positions; Keselowski sits in fifth, Logano in sixth, and Ryan Blaney in eleventh.

Keselowski started ninth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Sport Clips Haircuts 200 on Saturday afternoon and worked his way through the field to take the checkered flag.

After taking the lead with 33 laps to go, Keselowski won his third race out of five Xfinity starts this season, winning Team Penske's sixth overall NXS race. Cole Custer, in the No. 00 SHR Ford Mustang, crossed the finish line .738 seconds behind Keselowski to make it a 1-2 finish for Ford Performance.

NASCAR heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend to determine the final MENCS 2018 Playoff field.

Source:  Ford Performance PR

Congratulations Brad on your win tonight in Darlington! What an amazing show for the best fans in the sport. pic.twitter.com/Q11aX7Y8OK

— Darlington Raceway (@TooToughToTame) September 3, 2018

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