By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer
As Alex Bowman found out in the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational, sometimes an early mistake can put you on a winning strategy.
Bowman’s No. 88 Chevy Goods Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was caught up in the first ‘big one’ on lap 16 of the GEICO 70. The wreck started as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was turned in front of the field. After getting caught in the accident, Bowman pitted and used his only fast repair. However, he failed to refuel his car.
About 20 laps later, Bowman started the round of green flag pit stops with Garrett Smithley. The duo were caught by the lead pack with the Hendrick Motorsports driver leading the field, despite being at the tail end of the lead lap. As the green flag pit cycle completed, Bowman found himself towards the front of the pack.
“It was kind of a weird race for us just with how we didn’t get fuel under that first caution,” explained Bowman. “Then we had to pit earlier under green and was kind of going to put us in a really bad spot, and the cautions kind of saved us. Typically, you pit as a group and that’s all ironed out, and we didn’t have any of that today, so it was definitely different for sure.”
A late caution put Bowman one lap to the good on fuel. As he took the lead, another quick caution pushed the race into overtime at Talladega Superspeedway. As the field paced behind the pace car, he did his best to save fuel.
On the final restart, Bowman moved to the outside lane. With a push from Ryan Preece, Bowman dueled Ty Dillon for the lead. On the final lap, Corey LaJoie turned Dillon off the final corner. The break in momentum on the inside line left Bowman to defend against Preece. The Hendrick Motorsports driver took the checkered with 0.036 seconds to spare.
“I guess just right place, right time, kind of the normal speedway racing deal,” admitted Bowman. “I felt like the bottom wasn’t the place to be, so kind of let Ty have the bottom on that restart and got up, and just tried to keep the run timed well and knew that most of the time the top was leading there at the start‑finish line.
“So really just got to thank Preece for pushing me because that’s what made the difference at that point. When you’re that lead car, it’s really the guy behind you making the difference. Glad it worked out.”
Preece took third with Smithley and Landon Cassill rounding out the top-five. William Byron, Brennan Poole, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top-10.
In his virtual return to NASCAR competition, Jeff Gordon was involved in the first ‘big one’ that saw his No. 24 Pepsi Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE get launched into the catchfencing. Late in the race, Gordon again was involved in an accident. Having used his one fast repair, he went nine laps down waiting on pit road for a timed repair.
Of note, Denny Hamlin, winner of the opening round of the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational, was kicked from the server after his computer monitor shut off. Hamlin explained that his daughter turned the monitor off while he was running in the draft. To prevent a major incident, race control took action by removing the Joe Gibbs Racing driver from the session.
The Finish
1. 88-Alex Bowman [22], 2. 32-Corey LaJoie [1], 3. 37-Ryan Preece [31], 4. 51-Garrett Smithley [11], 5. 89-Landon Cassill [2], 6. 24-William Byron [32], 7. 15-Brennan Poole [7], 8. 18-Kyle Busch [19], 9. 1-Kurt Busch [13], 10. 96-Daniel Suarez [10], 11. 66-Timmy Hill [33], 12. 4-Kevin Harvick [24], 13. 95-Christopher Bell [34], 14. 47-Ricky Stenhouse Jr. [15], 15. 52-JJ Yeley [20], 16. 77-Parker Kligerman [35], 17. 12-Ryan Blaney [39], 18. 10-Aric Almirola [21], 19. 2-Brad Keselowski [12], 20. 53-Joey Gase [28], 21. 49-Chad Finchum [18], 22. 31-Tyler Reddick [38], 23. 13-Ty Dillon [6], 24. 3-Austin Dillon [5], 25. 38-John Hunter Nemechek [8], 26. 41-Cole Custer [23], 27. 17-Chris Buescher [14], 28. 9-Chase Elliott [37], 29. 6-Ross Chastain [3], 30. 8-Dale Earnhardt Jr. [4], 31. 19-Bobby Labonte [27], 32. 48-Jimmie Johnson [25], 33. 14-Clint Bowyer [17], 34. 34-Michael McDowell [16], 35. 21-Matt DiBenedetto [9], 36. 22-Joey Logano [30], 37. 20-Erik Jones [26], 38. 24jg-Jeff Gordon [29], 39. 11.-Denny Hamlin [36].
Lead Changes: 27 among 14 drivers
Lap Leader(s): Corey LaJoie 1-3, Ty Dillon 4, Corey LaJoie 5, Ty Dillon 6-10, Corey LaJoie 11, Brad Keselowski 12, Brennan Poole 13, Brad Keselowski 14-16, Denny Hamlin 17, Brennan Poole 18-20, Brad Keselowski 21-25, William Byron 26, Brad Keselowski 27, William Byron 28-35, Ty Dillon 36, Parker Kligerman 37-41, Clint Bowyer 42, John Hunter Nemechek 43-46, Corey LaJoie 47-48, Chris Buescher 49-51, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 52-53, Brad Keselowski 54, John Hunter Nemechek 55-61, Ty Dillon 62, Garrett Smithley 63, Ryan Preece 64, Garrett Smithley 65-66, Alex Bowman 67-74.
Laps Led: Brad Keselowski 11, John Hunter Nemechek 11, William Byron 9, Alex Bowman 8, Ty Dillon 8, Corey LaJoie 7, Parker Kligerman 5, Brennan Poole 4, Chris Buescher 3, Garrett Smithley 3, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2, Clint Bowyer 1, Denny Hamlin 1, Ryan Preece 1.
Hard Charger: Ryan Preece (+28)
Cautions: Three for 12 laps.
Margin of Victory: 0.036 seconds.
Time of Race: One hour, 17 minutes, 35.001 seconds.
Average Speed: 152.229 mph.
Pole Winner: Corey LaJoie (189.459 mph, 50.544 seconds).