iRacing eNASCAR Atlanta: Alfalla ends victory drought

Four-time eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series champion Ray Alfalla become the first driver in series history to score 25 victories on Friday night when he took the checkered flag at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The Virtual Racing School driver snapped a winless streak dating back to the end of his most recent title-winning season in 2018, and propelled himself into the thick of playoff contention.

For Alfalla, Friday night’s win may not have been much of a surprise. In last fall’s eNASCAR iRacing Pro Series, the series that completes the eNCiS grid, he took his first win of the season here, on the way to winning that series championship and qualifying back into the premier division.

After working his way up from the 26th starting spot, he led a race-high 75 of 167 laps, extending a lead of more than two seconds in the final green flag run on Garrett Lowe, his replacement for 2020 at Wood Brothers Racing.

While a stretch of four back-to-back cautions slowed down the early stages of the race, the lap 55 yellow flag for former Atlanta winner Steve Sheehan was the final one of the night. That left drivers with a stretch of well over 100 green flag laps to end the race, meaning green flag pit stops would play a factor.

Alfalla, who took the lead from Dover winner on Nick Ottinger on lap 70, pit with just over 50 to go. He finally inherited the spot back from JR Motorsports’ Michael Conti on lap 138 and never looking back.

Lowe’s runner-up finish matched a season best and allowed him to climb to third in the championship standings. Renegades’ Caine Cook scored his own best finish of the season in third, while Letarte Esports’ Chris Shearburn and new points leader Keegan Leahy of Denny Hamlin Racing completed the top five. Kollin Keister, who won the series’ most recent round at Charlotte, finished sixth after leading 53 laps, while polesitter Corey Vincent led only the first lap and faded to 16th at race’s end.

Full results from eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series action at Atlanta Motor Speedway were as follows:

Fin.	St.	No.	Name	Manufacturer	Laps	Led	Interval	Best Lap	Pts
1	26	2	Ray Alfalla	Chevrolet	167	75		29.238	45
2	18	21	Garrett Lowe	Ford	167	0	-1.976	29.464	39
3	12	55	Caine Cook	Ford	167	0	-3.287	29.433	38
4	40	36	Chris Shearburn	Chevrolet	167	0	-4.521	29.563	37
5	22	32	Keegan Leahy	Toyota	167	14	-4.940	29.304	37
6	3	17	Kollin Keister	Ford	167	53	-5.598	29.301	36
7	10	23	Casey Kirwan	Toyota	167	0	-5.684	29.292	34
8	27	24	Jake Nichols	Ford	167	0	-5.715	29.287	33
9	2	46	Jimmy Mullis	Toyota	167	6	-6.315	29.232	33
10	7	6	Nathan Lyon	Ford	167	0	-8.077	29.532	31
11	11	8	Michael Conti	Chevrolet	167	5	-8.351	29.288	31
12	32	10	Justin Bolton	Ford	167	0	-8.890	29.477	29
13	28	16	Chris Overland	Ford	167	0	-9.037	29.341	28
14	33	41	Dylan Duval	Ford	167	0	-9.472	29.374	27
15	20	99	Logan Clampitt	Toyota	167	0	-9.697	29.300	26
16	1	27	Corey Vincent	Ford	167	1	-10.166	29.332	26
17	13	25	Nick Ottinger	Chevrolet	167	5	-12.396	29.270	25
18	23	75	Phillip Diaz	Ford	167	0	-14.257	29.449	23
19	37	77	Ashton Crowder	Toyota	167	0	-20.748	29.416	22
20	17	42	Bob Bryant	Chevrolet	167	0	-21.065	29.615	21
21	36	14	Brandon Kettelle	Ford	167	0	-21.729	29.262	20
22	19	5	Matt Bussa	Ford	167	0	-22.990	29.591	19
23	14	66	Jarl Teien	Chevrolet	167	4	-24.829	29.367	19
24	5	90	Zack Novak	Toyota	167	0	-25.382	29.488	17
25	21	83	Bobby Zalenski	Chevrolet	167	0	-31.698	29.430	16
26	34	79	Brian Schoenburg	Ford	166	2	-1 L	29.304	16
27	25	33	Michael Guest	Chevrolet	166	0	-1 L	29.517	14
28	15	3	Blake Reynolds	Chevrolet	166	0	-1 L	29.677	13
29	16	97	John Gorlinsky	Chevrolet	166	0	-1 L	29.530	12
30	9	88	Brad Davies	Chevrolet	166	0	-1 L	29.559	11
31	6	15	Michael Guariglia	Ford	166	2	-1 L	29.527	11
32	35	54	Alex McCollum	Chevrolet	166	0	-1 L	29.379	9
33	29	9	Eric J. Smith	Ford	166	0	-1 L	29.510	8
34	31	53	Ryan Michael Luza	Ford	165	0	-2 L	29.692	7
35	8	37	Christian Challiner	Chevrolet	162	0	-5 L	29.544	6
36	38	47	Jeremy R Allen	Chevrolet	140	0	-27 L	29.548	5
37	30	4	Santiago Tirres	Chevrolet	120	0	-47 L	29.615	4
38	24	51	Malik Ray	Toyota	113	0	-54 L	29.606	3
39	4	18	Graham A. Bowlin	Toyota	66	0	-101 L	29.452	2
40	39	1	Steve Sheehan	Chevrolet	55	0	-112 L	29.514	1

 

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series points after eight rounds are as follows:

1. Keegan Leahy, 264
2. Ryan Luza, 254
3. Garrett Lowe, 252
4. Bobby Zalenski, 240
5. Michael Conti, 227
6. Nick Ottinger, 214
7. Brad Davies, 210
8. Jake Nichols, 209
9. Ray Alfalla, 207
10. Graham Bowlin, 192

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series takes a month off of points-paying competition before returning to the track on June 30 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.