- Zach Werenski spun out on lap eight and finished 39th out of 40 in the NASCAR racing simulator at NHL Player Media Tour
- Brady Tkachuk turned the quickest single lap of the day but was the only player who never finished his race
- Read below for what Cup Series driver Noah Gragson said about racing a room full of NHL players
Zach Werenski can drive the net. Driving at Daytona is another story.
The Blue Jackets defenseman spun out on lap eight of an 11-lap virtual run around Daytona International Speedway, sat there a while trying to get himself back on the track, and finished 39th out of 40 cars at the NHL/NHLPA North American Player Media Tour in Las Vegas, per NHL.com’s Dan Rosen.
Werenski asked NASCAR Cup Series driver Noah Gragson whether the simulator actually looks like that from inside a real car. Gragson said yes, minus the part where the cockpit climbs to 140 degrees.
“That was cool,” Werenski said. “I didn’t even know what I was looking at because there’s a bunch of cars. Just pedal down and go.”
Every willing player on the tour got a turn on the Sim Coaches rig. Gragson raced them and interviewed them at the same time, and he pulled on hockey gloves to even things out.
Gragson was asked what stood out about the hockey guys once the engines fired up.
“They walk in the room and they’re like, ‘Man, what’s going on,’ then the car starts up, they start the race and they kind of quiet down a little bit because they’re super focused,” Gragson said. “I mean, they’re just great competitors.”
Tuesday’s group drove a lot cleaner. Jake Guentzel, Tage Thompson and Jaccob Slavin each won their own 11-lap race.
Brady Tkachuk posted the fastest single lap of that day at 48.1 seconds, and he was also the only player who spun out and never reached the finish. Gragson’s best lap was 47.9.
Matty Beniers had a real shot at winning his. The Kraken center was sitting 10th and climbing toward the front when he lost the car into the wall.
“I lost it at the end, but he said he liked my driving,” Beniers said.
Deputy commissioner Bill Daly explained why the league keeps pairing up with outside sports like this.
“We’re looking, as every sports league is, at different and unique ways to do business and to expand the reach of the sport and cross promotion of sports,” Daly said. “Sports particularly that aren’t closely competitive to ours are good opportunities.”
Same thinking drove last month’s partnership with FC Bayern Munich, and it lands in a week where Daly is also tapping the brakes on expansion talk in Texas.
Jack Hughes skipped the small talk and grilled Gragson about his schedule and his win total. The answer: 13 wins in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and none yet at the Cup level.
Matt Coronato kept the throttle pinned the whole way like Gragson told him to, dodged traffic, never spun, and still came home 37th. He figures he was getting quicker by the end of it.
