As the newly crowned NASCAR Cup Seriesregular season champion, 2025 has been a milestone year for William Byron. Along with his latest title, he also is set to feature on the cover of the first NASCAR console video game in four years.
Having begun his foray into racing, famously, via his immense success in iRacing before taking to the wheel in his mid-teens, it is only fitting that with NASCAR 25 having been developed by the aforementioned studios, Byron was selected as the cover star, alongside Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney.
“My younger self would never believe this! On the cover of @Nascar25Game. See y’all online soon,” he wrote on social media after the cover was first made public.
Reflecting on the recent reveal of the cover, Byron told 2014 Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick on his podcast that it was “pretty sweet,” adding, “I think it’s one of those things that your high school buddies and stuff they send you pictures and they’re like, ‘Look at you when you were 13, 14 and you were just racing.’
“It’s a really cool… that’s a full circle moment. That’s a pretty neat experience and it kind of gave me a little bit of the chills.”
Byron told Harvick that while his role during the development of the game was minimal, he did play it at various stages and provide feedback.
As for Byron’s co-stars, Blaney jokingly commented during the cover reveal video, “Mom, I made it. I’m on the cover of a video game.” The 2023 Cup Series champion added, “The NASCAR video games growing up as a kid, they were super iconic.”
Meanwhile, Bell noted hope he “loved iRacing growing up. I used it a lot as a tool.”
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He went on to add, “I would be up all night playing that game…When iRacing was off of all actual data and physics from real life stuff and it was a simulation, it wasn’t just a video game.”
With the October 14 release date creeping ever closer, iRacing, for which NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. serves as an executive director, has recently had multiple drivers test the game, including the likes of Cup Series drivers Byron, Bell, and Noah Gragson and Xfinity Series drivers Connor Zilisch, Sammy Smith, and Anthony Alfredo, among others.
Another driver to have put the game through its paces was Rajah Caruth of the Craftsman Truck Series, who explained how, “You can definitely tell that iRacing had a significant impact on this game from the driving characteristics, to the audio, the visuals, you can tell the footprint that iRacing had on this platform. And it’s a great thing because it just shows how next-level video games can be.”
NASCAR 25 is set to be made available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam (although this version will be released later than on consoles).
Players will be able to compete in the Cup, Xfinity, Craftsman Truck and ARCA Menards Series in the form of quick races, seasons, or online races against one another. The game will allow them not only to race, but to make their own in-race decisions, while communicating with crew chiefs and spotters throughout.
What’s more, players will be able to navigate their own NASCAR careers, beginning in the ARCA Menards Series before working their way up the ladder, customizing their cars, managing contracts, finances, team facilities and staff throughout.