By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer
A dominant performance by Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron allowed him to become the first eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series’ repeat winner.
Once Byron took the lead on lap 60 in his virtual No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, he never looked back. With his eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series driver Nick Ottinger serving as his crew chief, he remained on track during the final two cautions of the Toyota Owners 150.
With only a handful of other drivers electing not to pit, Byron anticipated a clean run to the finish. A caution for a wild crash involving Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, and others changed that. Byron now had to hold off Timmy Hill and Parker Kligerman who had fresh tires.
(Photo by Justin Melillo / The Racing Experts / iRacing)
On the restart, Hill made a charge at Byron in his virtual No. 66 Pit Boss Grills Toyota Camry. When he failed to stay alongside his fellow iRacing veteran, he attempted to chase him down. Hill attempted a bump and run in turn one, a move that earned him the win at Texas Motor Speedway but was not close enough at Richmond. Byron took the checkered flag with two car lengths to spare.
Byron explained that the call not to pit with 40 laps to go was crucial:
“Just really pleased with how it turned out. Definitely the pit call there with about 40 laps to go was a tough one. I didn’t really know how that was going to work out, but luckily, we were able to have a little bit of buffer to the guys with four tires, and then the late restart, just executed that well.
“It was fun, I really enjoyed it. To go back-to-back is really cool. Having fun with it while we’re kind of in a hiatus here but looking forward to getting back to real racing soon, too.”
Kligerman, Saturday Night Thunder polesitter Landon Cassill, and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five. Denny Hamlin, Erik Jones, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Bubba Wallace, and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top-10.
Ryan Preece started on the pole and led the first 59 laps. He held off Byron, Cassill, and others even as caution flags fell. Preece was later involved in several incidents with Matt DiBenedetto, who was warned and then parked for a payback incident.
The first caution that waved on lap 20 as because of an incident between Chris Buescher and Kevin Harvick. The wheel on Buescher’s iRacing rig disconnected, automatically locking the wheels of his virtual No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang to the left. As he spun, Kevin Harvick had nowhere to go.
While Buescher continued, Harvick was left with a timed repair. With no fast repairs available, timed optional and required repairs were in use, much like traditional iRacing races. Clint Bowyer, who was also in the accident, eventually saw his engine expire due to the damage sustained.
The Finish
1. 24-William Byron [3], 2. 66-Timmy Hill [5], 3. 77-Parker Kligerman [10], 4. 89-Landon Cassill [2], 5. 18-Kyle Busch [27], 6. 11-Denny Hamlin [13], 7. 20-Erik Jones [24], 8. 8-Dale Earnhardt Jr. [4], 9. 43-Bubba Wallace [28], 10. 2-Brad Keselowski [9], 11. 9-Chase Elliott [23], 12. 31-Tyler Reddick [20], 13. 6-Ross Chastain [19], 14. 19-Bobby Labonte [21], 15. 13-Ty Dillon [26], 16. 38-John Hunter Nemechek [12], 17. 51-Garrett Smithley [11], 18. 96-Daniel Suarez [6], 19. 37-Ryan Preece [1], 20. 1-Kurt Busch [16], 21. 17-Chris Buescher [18], 22. 88-Alex Bowman [22], 23. 12-Ryan Blaney [15], 24. 95-Christopher Bell [29], 25. 22-Joey Logano [14], 26. 48-Jimmie Johnson [25], 27. 21-Matt DiBenedetto [8], 28. 3-Austin Dillon [7], 29. 4-Kevin Harvick [17], 30. 14-Clint Bowyer [30].
Lead Changes: Three among three drivers
Lap Leader(s): Ryan Preece 1-59, William Byron 60-99, Chase Elliott 100, William Byron 101-154
Laps Led: William Byron 94, Ryan Preece 59, Chase Elliott 1
Hard Charger: Kyle Busch (+22)
Cautions: Six for 36 laps
Margin of Victory: 0.256 seconds
Time of Race: One hour, 14 minutes, 31.705 seconds
Average Speed: 92.985 mph
Pole Winner: 37-Ryan Preece (21.683 seconds, 124.522 mph)