I’ve heard of that happening several times over the years. Some did just as you said, but never made anything of it (marketability I presume). There have been a number of pro racers that have done sim races on Forza over the years (can’t remember names as I haven’t played in a long time) and those races were “invite only” events to the people that had a good rep in-game.
yeah pro nascar racers do iracing frequently- especially during covid when they couldn’t race- but even now- they do it for practice i guess- and televise it too- they held a contest for the season online racing- it was pretty fun to watch as they got to relax and have a good time racing for a change- the announcers were pretty funny throughout it too-