By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer
Track position was king as Steven Wilson and others found in the eNASCAR iRacing Road to Pro Series visit to the virtual Dover International Speedway.
Wilson took the lead from Nexxus Motorsports’ driver Will Norton on the outside on a restart. The Total Advantage Motorsport driver pulled away, the clean air proving beneficial to his virtual Toyota Tundra.
There was little that Norton could do as Wilson quickly opened up a one second gap over his competition. When the checkered flag waved, Wilson led the train by 0.853 seconds over Norton. Allen Boes, Kaden Honeycutt, pole sitter Jake Matheson, and Alek Martinez completed the top-six. They all started inside the top-seven.
“It feels good, we definitely had a fast truck, faster than we thought we would be, than I thought I would be,” admitted Wilson. “My teammates made a good adjustment during the second pit stop, after that long green flag run. It just shot out of a cannon and we were hauling. The last run I was just able to pull away from Jake. Towards the end I was losing a little to Will. We were fast and I was able to get it done.”
What gave Wilson the opportunity to pass Norton was a caution in the middle of green flag pit stops. Isaac Gann called out that he was pitting. As he pulled low, he had not verified that he was clear and was slammed by Adam Gilliland. Gann’s truck broke loose and slid to a stop in the middle of turns three and four.
The ensuing caution forced Elliott Sadler eSports driver Garrett Manes, Total Advantage’s Femi Olat, and others to take the wave around. Although they restarted on the lead lap, they were mired deep in the field.
Manes was one of several drivers that appeared to be able to climb through the field. Anthony Burroughs, Ryan Doucette, Brian Mercurio, and Michael Gonzales were some that could work their way through traffic, completing seventh through 10th in the running order. Doucette started up front but had to fight his way back after a pit road speeding penalty under caution. Burroughs, Gonzales, and Mercurio started outside the top-15.
The victory was Wilson’s second in Road to Pro competition this season. He is also a pro in the World of Outlaws Late Model World Championship iRacing Series. There Wilson sits 16th in the standings, 130-points behind leader Hayden Cardwell.
Wilson described the balance of competing in the World of Outlaws iRacing Series and attempting to advance to the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series:
“This is going a lot better than the World of Outlaws this year at least. This year I’ve been focused more on the oval side. Last year, when I was in the World of Outlaws, I focused more on that. I didn’t run the full Road to Pro schedule, so I was able to focus on that more.
“This year on the World of Outlaws side, the series is very, very competitive. I just don’t have the pace that I had last year. On that side I have great teammates that bring great setups every week, just like the oval side. Lots of preparation and laps get put in. Hopefully it pans out a little better on the dirt side in the coming weeks.”
With five weeks left in the Road to Pro season, Matheson leads the standings with 2,725-points. Wilson, Boes, Doucette, and Mercurio complete the top-five in the standings. The top-20 advances to the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Series for a chance to advance to the Coca-Cola Series.
Before the one drop week is factored into the points standings, Ryan A. Hill holds the cutoff. Norton sits 21st, 15-points behind the cutoff.
The Finish
1. Steven Wilson [5], 2. Will Norton [2], 3. Allen Boes [4], 4. Kaden Honeycutt [3], 5. Jake Matheson [1], 6. Alek Martinez [7], 7. Anthony Burroughs [19], 8. Ryan Doucette [9], 9. Brian Mercurio [22], 10. Michael Gonzales [24], 11. Isaac Gann [17], 12. Briar LaPradd [13], 13. Mitchell deJong [12], 14. Justin Lisonbee [8], 15. Braden Boulos [8], 16. Seth DeMerchant [23], 17. Adam Gilliland [15], 18. Dylan C Jones [28], 19. Bryan Blackford [26], 20. Garrett Manes [21], 21. Femi Olat [10], 22. Drew Faryniarz [27], 23. Derek Justis [14], 24. Boyd Hoggan [20], 25. Jarrett Liebert [31], 26. Michael Fenlason [18], 27. Zack Nichols [6], 28. Casey Tucker [33], 29. Blake Near [32], 30. Jacob Hall [11], 31. Jordy Lopez Jr. [25], 32. Donovan Strauss [16], 33. Daniel Roeper [29], 34. Treyten Lapcevich [34].
Lead Changes: Two among three drivers.
Lap Leader(s): Jake Matheson 1-35, Will Norton 36-113, Steven Wilson 114-170.
Laps Led: Will Norton 78, Steven Wilson 57, Jake Matheson 35.
Hard Charger: Braden Boulos (+15).
Tough Break: Zack Nichols (-21).
Cautions: Three for 15 laps.
Margin of Victory: 0.853 seconds.
Time of Race: One hour, 21 minutes, 16.315 seconds.
Average Speed: 125.505 mph.
Pole Winner: Jake Matheson, 22.090 seconds (162.970 mph).
Fastest Lap: Allen Boes, Lap 137, 22.637 seconds (159.032 mph).
Strength of Field: 7,214 average iRating.
Road to Pro Winner Rundown: Steven Wilson (Top Split), Jose Solis Jr. (second split), Brad Wright (third split), Shawn M. Butler (fourth split), Michael Dorsey (fifth split), Jackson Wellman (sixth split), Matthew Johnson (seventh split), Jason Large (eighth split), Noah Wyatt (ninth split).