NHL players test need for speed with NASCAR collaboration

LAS VEGAS -- Zach Werenski spun out in lap eight, took a while to get himself back on the virtual track simulating Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, and the Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman finished the 11-lap race in 39th place out of 40.

Matt Coronato kept the throttle down the entire time as the Calgary Flames forward was instructed to do, stayed on track, avoided collisions, bumped and slipped through some traffic, but still finished 37th.

Matty Beniers was in 10th place, racing toward first when the Seattle Kraken center said he "lost it," hit the wall and "that was it."

Noah Gragson had no such problems, even while wearing hockey gloves, in navigating the Sim Coaches racing simulator. The gloves were a way for the professional stock car racing driver, who competes full time in the NASCAR Cup Series, to level the playing field.

"It's awesome," Gragson said. "I haven't really had a ton of opportunities in my career to be around hockey too much as far as meeting players, so this is a great introduction today."

Every willing player attending the NHL/NHLPA North American Player Media Tour this week had their driving skills put to the test on the racing simulator.

It was an example of the NHL's continued aggressive push to collaborate with other large and popular sports entities, NASCAR in this case, to "grow the visibility and engagement in the sport," NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said.

Along those lines, the NHL last month announced a partnership with FC Bayern Munich to grow hockey in Germany and the Bayern brand in North America.

"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."

On Wednesday, the players raced against Gragson as he simultaneously interviewed them. The Las Vegas native, who is currently living in Charlotte, North Carolina, has been a Vegas Golden Knights fan since the team's inaugural season in 2017-18.

"They do a good job," Gragson said of the NHL players on the simulator. "It's definitely a different skill set than they've probably ever done. I think what I'm most in awe of is just how competitive they are when they get in. 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. I mean, they're just great competitors. That's what's great about sports is the competition side. Even though they've never done NASCAR stuff before, it's awesome to see the competitive side come out."

There might even be some fledging professional stock car drivers in the mix.

Before Gragson arrived, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jake Guentzel, Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson and Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin all finished in first place in their respective 11-lap races in the simulator on Tuesday.

Brady Tkachuk of the Florida Panthers had the best single-lap time on Tuesday at 48.1 seconds, but he also was the only player of the day to spin out and not finish the race.

By comparison, Gragson's best lap time was 47.9 seconds, though he said he could break 46.

"He was good," Coronato said after Gragson finished first in the race against him. "I feel like I got better as I went along, just listening to his advice and tips going through it."

Gragson gave some stock car driving tips as he talked to the players, and the players countered by engaging with Gragson about his career path and how he got into stock car racing after starting in go-karts. 

They spoke while simulating a 200 mph race at the Daytona International Speedway, which Gragson told Coronato is arguably the fastest track on the tour because the depth of the turns allow the driver to keep the throttle down the entire time.

New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes asked Gragson about his schedule and his record.

Gragson told him he has 13 wins in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, which is the level below the NASCAR Cup Series. He has no wins in the Cup Series as of yet.

Werenski asked Gragson, "Is this what it looks like when you're (racing)?" Gragson said yes, except the car can heat up to about 135-140 degrees in the process because of how hot the engine burns.

"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."

Gragson said the NHL players were quick studies on the simulator, noting the parallels between playing hockey and racing cars as having to stay in a good head space the entire time, focused and engaged.

"I lost it at the end, but he said he liked my driving," Beniers said.

NHL.com director of editorial Shawn P. Roarke contributed to this story.