By Seth Eggert, Associate Editor
16-year-old Jack Mace raced beyond his years to earn his first career win in the biggest race of the Barr Visuals FTF Cup Series, the Barr Visuals FTF Daytona 500.
In double overtime at the virtual Daytona Int’l Speedway, Mace worked with former eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series driver Blake Reynolds to lead the outside lane. The virtual No. 07 Crowe Sim Shots Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 took the lead just before a caution with two laps to go in the scheduled distance pushed the race into overtime. In the first attempt at overtime, neither Mace nor Reynolds reached fourth gear before a wreck mid-pack forced a second overtime.
In the second attempt at overtime the field largely remained calm until after taking the white flag. A massive wreck just outside the top-10 altered the energy towards the front of the field. With the white flag already waving, the iRacing league raced back to the checkered flag.
It was at this point that Mace began to embrace his inner Trevor Bayne. Instead of mirror driving, the British teenager focused on what lay ahead, allowing his spotter to guide him. When the veteran sim racer looked to Mace’s inside, he countered, forcing Reynolds to mimic Carl Edwards in the 2011 Daytona 500 and jump to the outside. Filling the role of David Gilliland, Michael P Frisch gave Mace a bump.
That push gave Mace enough momentum to break free of the side draft of Reynolds. While the two veteran drivers battled behind him, the Leeds, Yorkshire native comfortably cruised to victory. Mace was dumbfounded by the accomplishment.
“I cannot believe it at all, I don’t think I’ve ever felt my heartbeat this much before,” Mace said. “That was absolutely an insane race. That was my first FTF win, I’ve never won anything like this before. I’ve been in position for it (before), absolutely cannot believe it.
“I kept my eyes out the windshield, tried not to focus on the mirror at all. [Blake and I] timed it on the restart, he was going to roll up to me. Then we got the great restart. I saw him swing low and I just tried to block with the air. Frisch got to his inside off of (Turn) 4. He gave me the shot and I knew they were not going to get there. Somehow, I beat them all to the line.”
In another coincidence between Bayne and Mace, the duo are the youngest winners in their respective events, Bayne in the real-life Daytona 500 and Mace in the FTF 500. The 16-year-old is also the first British driver to capture FTF 500 glory.
“(This race win means) oh so much,” Mace admitted. “It’s 5:40 in the morning right now, it might sink in a bit more [after] I sleep and wake up at whatever time. It means absolutely the world; I’ve never won anything big in sim racing before. This is absolutely huge. Thank you all for putting it on.”
While Mace was upfront throughout the event, he was not the most dominant car. eNASCAR driver Dylan Ault commanded the field until he was swept up in one of the 13 cautions throughout the race. Of the 17 different leaders throughout the race, nine have competed at the top of the eNASCAR ladder with six drivers active in the pinnacle of NASCAR’s esports arm.
Of the active eNASCAR drivers, Michael Cosey Jr and Parker White both appeared poised to take the win late. Under a late caution Cosey’s sim crashed, briefly disconnecting him from the server while he was running second. White was swept up in an accident one of the ensuing restarts.
The results:
1. 07-Jake Mace [15] ($500), 2. 58-Michael P Frisch [40], 3. 66-Blake Reynolds [11], 4. 182-Kyler Wynn [7], 5. 008-Braxton DeWeese [8], 6. 12-Lawson Peel [31], 7. 052-Jake Matheson [37], 8. 41-Brian Mercurio [19], 9. 007-Malik Ray [45], 10. 3-Josh Parker [28], 11. 005-Zack Novak [29], 12. 96-Alexander van de Sandt [1], 13. 040-Dylan Ault [3], 14. 53-Parker White [39], 15. 199-Matthew Zwack [35], 16. 74-Kyle Merkel [34], 17. 7-Hamilton Akabueze [24], 18. 1-Seth Noell [38], 19. 20-Wyatt Tinsley [43], 20. 84-Cosmin Ioanesiu [27], 21. 27-Justin Bolton [23], 22. 26-Kevin McAdams [2], 23. 65-Michael Cosey Jr [18], 24. 37-Ryan Nawrocki [17], 25. 64-Tyler Lahnen [21], 26. 77-Paul Mikolajczyk [22], 27. 4-Nate Stewart [4], 28. 29-Kevin King [41], 29. 63-Jake Nichols [33], 30. 71-Chris Wetz [32], 31. 01-A.J. Green [16], 32. 012-Santiago Tirres [36], 33. 099-Brandon Hawkin [42], 34. 900-Garrett Konrath [25], 35. 093-Joshua Chin [26], 36. 91-Daylon Barr [44], 37. 46-Lucas Ploessl [20], 38. 38-Drew Jewah [5], 39. 000-Jordan Haynes [12], 40. 83-David Brown [9], 41. 034-Darik Bourdeau [6], 42. 033-Bryan Blackford [14], 43. 21-Steven Gibson [13], 44. 54-Daniel Faulkingham [30], 45. 054-Shawn Conklin [10].
Lead Changes: 55 amongst 17 drivers.
Lap Leader(s): Alexander van de Sandt POLE-0, Kevin McAdams 1, Dylan Ault 2, Kyler Wynn 3-9, Nate Stewart 10, Kevin McAdams 11, David Brown 12, Kevin McAdams 13-14, Daniel Faulkingham 15, Dylan Ault 16-18, Michael Cosey Jr 19-20, Dylan Ault 21-22, Daniel Faulkingham 23-25, Kyler Wynn 26-38, Daniel Faulkingham 39-40, Michael Cosey Jr 41, Drew Jewah 42, Darik Bourdeau 43-44, Daniel Faulkingham 45, Jake Matheson 46, Dylan Ault 47, Daniel Faulkingham 48-54, Drew Jewah 55, Dylan Ault 56-60, Daniel Faulkingham 61, Dylan Ault 62-86, Kyler Wynn 87-88, Matthew Zwack 89, Michael Cosey Jr 90-91, Dylan Ault 92-101, Santiago Tirres 102, Dylan Ault 103-107, Matthew Zwack 108-110, Nate Stewart 111, Daniel Faulkingham 112-113, Nate Stewart 114, Matthew Zwack 115-116, Michael Cosey Jr 117, Matthew Zwack 118-123, Kyler Wynn 124-126, Matthew Zwack 127-137, Kyler Wynn 138, Matthew Zwack 139-149, Kevin King 150-152, Dylan Ault 153-157, Kyler Wynn 158, Matthew Zwack 159, Kyler Wynn 160, Matthew Zwack 161-163, Tyler Lahnen 164, Matthew Zwack 165, Michael Cosey Jr 166-171, Tyler Lahnen 172, Parker White 173-191, Brandon Hawkin 192-197, Kyler Wynn 198, Jack Mace 199-208.
Laps Led: Dylan Ault 56, Matthew Zwack 38, Kyler Wynn 30, Parker White 19, Daniel Faulkingham 17, Michael Cosey Jr 12, Jack Mace 10, Brandon Hawkin 6, Kevin McAdams 4, Kevin King 3, Nate Stewart 3, Darik Bourdeau 2, Drew Jewah 2, Tyler Lahnen 2, Jake Matheson 2, David Brown 1, Santiago Tirres 1, Alexander van de Sandt 0.
Hard Charger(s): 58-Michael P. Frisch (+38).
Tough Luck: 034-Darik Bourdeau (-35).
Caution Flags: 13 for 39 Laps.
Margin of Victory: 0.131 seconds.
Time of Race: Three Hours, 26 Minutes, 31.368 Seconds.
Average Speed: 151.073 MPH.
Pole Winner: 96-Alexander van de Sandt, 49.290 seconds, 182.593 MPH (qualifying at Legacy Daytona Int’l Speedway).
Fastest Lap: 000-Jordan Haynes, Lap 193, 44.925 seconds, 200.334 MPH.
Stage 1: 54, 38, 008, 033, 83, 41, 71, 052, 199, 040.
Stage 2: 040, 199, 1, 65, 052, 41, 12, 46, 182, 900.
*Race Scheduled for 200 Laps, Extended Due to Overtime*