Watch Online: The Ultimate 3D Daytona 500 Experience

The NASCAR season revs up again this weekend with the first race of 2013, the Daytona 500. You can track the Great American Race with a Daytona 500 live audio and 3D stream on the Internet. Known as the “Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing,” Daytona is the first of 36 point races in what’s sure to be an interesting 2013 Sprint Cup Series.

All racers will be driving NASCAR’s new lighter, faster Gen 6 car – a huge change to which the drivers and pit crews are still adjusting. Another twist to this NASCAR season is that two competing drivers are romantically involved, as Danica Patrick’s boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. has just been promoted to the NASCAR circuit. Ricky’s just a rookie, whereas Danica has won the pole position for this year’s Daytona race, and fans are anxious to see if this love affair will survive at speeds of over 200 miles per hour.

The Daytona 500 start time is 1 p.m. EST / 10 a.m. EST on Sunday, February 24, 2013 with the green flag flying to start the race at 1:30 p.m. EST.  The race is being broadcast on the FOX television network, but neither NASCAR nor FOX will provide a live video stream of the Daytona 500. Race fans still have several options to follow the Daytona 500 live online. You’ve got your choice of a free live audio stream of the race, a premium live audio stream that lets you listen-in on the driver and crew of your choice, or a paid subscription service that delivers a live, real-time 3D rendered animation of the race with constantly updated stats and in-car audio to virtually recreate the Daytona 500 experience.

3D EXPERIENCE: DAYTONA 500 LIVE STREAM

For those who like to watch NASCAR live, be aware that you will need a TV to watch the Daytona 500 live. That said, NASCAR does offer a high-tech, state-of-the-art 3D graphic animation of the race that mirrors precisely what’s happening on the racetrack in real time. NASCAR RaceView is the closest thing to live video of the race available online, rendering a hyper-realistic 3D Flash animation of the action on the track that rivals the most detailed and accurate PlayStation or Xbox versions of a NASCAR game.

RaceView subscribers get their choice of 3D camera angles showing the whole track, or a choice of any 3D camera angle on the track, or the ability to zero-in on a specific driver. NASCAR RaceView also delivers the live radio broadcast of the race synched up to the 3D rendered version, or you can choose the live in-car audio of any of the 43 drivers and pit crews. NASCAR RaceView also delivers a barrage of real-time statistical data – advanced leader boards, telemetry data, and even graphic displays showing where individual drivers are hitting the gas or the brakes.

NASCAR RaceView is a paid service, costing $9.95 per month, or $79.95 for the entire season. A lower-priced version called NASCAR Mobile ’13 is available for Android and iOS mobile devices – and it will be free to Sprint customers, as a benefit from NASCAR’s Sprint Cup sponsors. NASCAR is debuting a new updated RaceView interface for Sunday’s race at Daytona, but here’s some rendered RaceView 3D video from last year’s Daytona 500 to give you an idea of what to expect.

LISTEN TO DAYTONA 500 LIVE

While there’s no legal live video of the Daytona 500 online, race fans can listen to the Daytona 500 live for free through the Motor Racing Network (MRN). The service provides free live audio for most races on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit, and most of the races not broadcast on MRN are still available for free from the Performance Racing Network (PRN). Check the NASCAR 2013 schedule to see which races are carried for free on MRN or PRN.

If you’re a true NASCAR junkie, you might be interested in NASCAR RaceView Audio – the premium audio service for listening to NASCAR online. RaceView Audio delivers the in-car audio and pit crew transmissions for all 43 drivers in each race of the 2013 Sprint Cup Series, at a price of $4.95 for a one-month subscription, or $29.95 for the entire 2013 NASCAR season.

WATCH NASCAR LIVE ONLINE

There will be several options to watch NASCAR live online when the season heats up in the summer and fall. With the running of the Pocono 500 on June 9, 2013 NASCAR TV coverage switches from FOX to the TNT cable network, and TNT has traditionally provided a free live video stream of all their NASCAR races via their online product TNT Race Buddy. In late July for the Brickyard 500, TV coverage switches over to ESPN — so you can watch ESPN online to catch almost every Sprint Cup race from the Brickyard up until the final Cup race on November 17 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

How do feel about watching a simulated 3D computer animation of the Daytona 500? Will Matt Kenseth make a repeat trip to Victory Lane, or will it be Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, or another driver? How will Danica and Ricky’s romance play out on the race track? More importantly, how will it play out if the two of them break up? Feel free to blow some dirty air in the comments section below.