14 Team Penske drivers will race for Verizon's 'Pay It Forward Live' coronavirus relief



It’s game on for Team Penske.

Fourteen stars of one of the greatest racing collectives in auto-sports history will start their engines from the comfort of their respective homes as they compete in an iRacing simulation on Tuesday, May 12 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT for the latest installment of Verizon’s Pay It Forward Live streaming series to support small businesses affected by COVID-19. The event will be archived and available on demand here for one week.

NASCAR legend Rusty Wallace and Fox Sports’ racing reporter Jamie Little will call all the virtual action.

The speed racers represent several racing series and include some of the biggest names in the sport: NASCAR competitors Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Matt DiBenedetto and Austin Cindric; IndyCar drivers Will Power, Simon Pagenaud and Josef Newgarden; IMSA competitors Hélio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya, Ricky Taylor and Dane Cameron; and Supercar drivers Fabian Coulthard and Scott McLaughlin.

Over the course of the twice-weekly Pay It Forward Live, viewers are encouraged to tag their favorite local businesses and do what they can to support them — shop online, make a purchase in advance for when the crisis is over and the businesses reopen, or order a meal. Verizon will also donate $10 to support small businesses, up to $2.5 million, each time the hashtag #PayItForwardLive is used, on top of the $7.5 million the company has already pledged.

According to 2018 Indy 500 champ Will Power, “iRacing has been one of the best ways to stay connected to my teammates and all of our fans during the quarantine. Being able to rally the group to partner with Verizon and the Verizon's Pay It Forward Live initiative to help support small businesses is something I know we’re all happy we can do.”

Three-time Indy 500 champ (and one-time Dancing With the Stars winner) Hélio Castroneves says he is happy to participate. “The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting people across the globe. Small businesses everywhere — from our hometowns to the cities where we compete — are being majorly impacted and I’m glad we can join forces with Verizon to do our part to help to make sure they can all reopen.”

To find out more about what Verizon is doing to help customers and small businesses, visit verizon.com/about/news/our-response-coronavirus.

Verizon is the parent company of Yahoo and Autoblog.

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