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eNASCAR iRacing Series: Shearburn Wins Finale, Ottinger Champion

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eNASCAR iRacing Series: Shearburn Wins Finale, Ottinger Champion

Two long-awaited firsts were in store for Nick Ottinger and Chris Shearburn on Monday night, as the 2020 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season wrapped up at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Shearburn scored his first career victory in his 71st career start, but Ottinger outdueled Bobby Zalenski, Michael Conti, and Ryan Luza to become the first $100,000 series champion, finally shedding the label of winningest driver in series history without a title and taking home the largest share of the $300,000 series purse.

“I’ve got a good team behind me, man,” Ottinger, overwhelmed by emotion, told NBC Sports’ Parker Kligerman after crossing the line fourth. “We got bit by the tire strategy a little bit, but we had to try something. We had the third best car, probably. I couldn’t have predicted that! All the hard work this year, to have William (Byron, team owner) believing in me this year… it’s the real deal.”

The first half of the race was clean and green, with the Championship 4 all qualifying in the top 10 and running in the top five early on before Conti attempted to go for an alternate strategy and stayed out longer. As most of the field, including Luza and Zalenski, began their second set of green flag pit stops, the first caution flew for Alex McCollum and Brad Davies, and not long after, a spin for Jarl Teien directly in front of Michael Conti led to the second caution.

Conti and Ottinger stayed out, saving a set of tires and establishing premier track position in third and ninth while Zalenski and Luza pitted, until a second spin for Teien caused an immediate third caution. Three, four, and five wide were the norm after the next green flag, as Zalenski rocketed to the front of the pack with his fresh tires.

With 15 laps to go, Luza clawed his way up to fourth, following Zalenski, Keegan Leahy and Ray Alfalla. He got past Leahy, but stalled out running side by side with Alfalla until making contact with seven laps to go, nudging Alfalla into the wall. That allowed Luza to finally get to Zalenski’s bumper, where he’d take the lead with four laps to go.

But a straightaway later, it all went wrong. Luza began to block, trying to keep the spot, but right as Zalenski tried to turn into Turn 3 and Luza tried to move up a lane, Zalenski’s left front fender clipped Luza’s right rear, sending him careening into the outside wall.

With the first attempt at overtime looming, Conti and Ottinger pit for their final set of tires. A frenetic first attempt ended with a caution just short of the finish line thanks to a multi-car accident in Turn 4, with Ottinger and Conti getting up to 12th and 13th. The cars with fresher tires were less successful at gaining spots in the second attempt, but another caution for an incident that put Brandon Kettelle on his roof kept them from getting to the white flag a second time.

But Shearburn, another driver on fresher tires, took the lead from Zalenski before the third and final attempt at a green flag finish, stealing control of the last restart. Despite scraping the wall earlier in the race, Ottinger had the better car than Conti, and was the stronger challenger.

He muscled through the middle in the first corner, pulling to Zalenski’s bumper and going three wide in the final corner to make the $100,000 pass. Shearburn, Chris Overland, and Eric Smith crossed the line in the top three spots, as Ottinger became the first driver since 2016 not to win the title by winning the finale.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Shearburn of his first career victory. “I feel like I’ve let a lot of wins slip through my fingers, especially this year, and the luck certainly hasn’t been on my side. But for once, one time, I finally caught a break. The traffic on the first restart probably let me get the win more than anything. It’s amazing.”

Full results from the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Name

Manufacturer

Laps

Led

Interval

Best

Pts

1736Chris ShearburnChevrolet14770.00030.80644
23716Chris OverlandFord1470-0.33930.83939
3169Eric J. SmithFord1473-0.92130.99939
4925Nick OttingerChevrolet1470-1.11531.14337
52655Caine CookFord1470-1.24231.17636
61537Christian ChallinerChevrolet1470-1.37031.19935
7383Bobby ZalenskiChevrolet14746-1.81730.96835
82733Michael GuestChevrolet1476-2.06931.11334
92323Casey KirwanToyota1470-2.08931.09632
1048Michael ContiChevrolet14714-2.09031.16832
112046Jimmy MullisToyota1470-2.17231.05730
12132Keegan LeahyToyota1470-2.22731.05329
132421Garrett LoweFord1470-2.29331.04428
14293Blake ReynoldsChevrolet1470-2.37131.23427
1522Ray AlfallaChevrolet1470-2.47831.02526
161177Bob BryantToyota1470-2.54331.17825
173379Brian SchoenburgFord1470-2.56931.21324
181227Corey VincentFord1470-2.59931.09823
191788Brad DaviesChevrolet1470-2.63531.20722
202190Zack NovakToyota14713-2.77731.09922
211318Graham A. BowlinToyota1470-2.78730.98420
223554Alex McCollumChevrolet1470-2.92231.30519
23146Nathan LyonFord1470-3.16331.17018
243175Phillip DiazFord1470-3.77131.16517
25105Matt BussaFord1470-4.68231.22816
26897John GorlinskyChevrolet1470-4.83931.12415
271924Jake NicholsFord1470-5.36431.05914
28641Dylan DuvalFord1470-5.74031.13513
291810Justin BoltonFord1470-5.84331.15512
303447Steve SheehanChevrolet1470-7.60031.32011
31553Ryan Michael LuzaFord14758-7.86430.98412
322217Kollin KeisterFord1470-8.01731.2369
333051Malik RayToyota1410-6 L31.2338
343214Brandon KettelleFord1400-7 L31.0977
352866Jarl TeienChevrolet1360-11 L31.1246
36364Santiago TirresChevrolet170-130 L31.2365
372515Michael GuarigliaFord150-132 L31.6224

 

Unofficial final eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series standings are as follows:

Pos.

Driver

Pts.

St.

Wins

Top 5

Poles

Laps

Led

1Nick Ottinger3037202912666173
2Bobby Zalenski30352031042751254
3Michael Conti3032201742662269
4Ryan Michael Luza3012203602694383
5Jimmy Mullis2120202512747229
6Keegan Leahy2117203842775385
7Garrett Lowe211520060277412
8Ray Alfalla2087201312721142
9Corey Vincent5052001127678
10Logan Clampitt50119070259768
11Graham A. Bowlin49020022267790
12Brad Davies484200202776117
13Chris Shearburn46020151277153
14Blake Reynolds4532001026727
15Caine Cook44620020258519
16Bob Bryant44620020277843
17Jake Nichols43720010277613
18Christian Challiner4092003127115
19Casey Kirwan40520110268132
20John Gorlinsky4052000027737
21Zack Novak39520030266027
22Nathan Lyon3942001026344
23Matt Bussa3922001025882
24Dylan Duval3922001027512
25Michael Guest38720000271521
26Eric J. Smith3822003027143
27Chris Overland37920020270314
28Kollin Keister377181202443174
29Brandon Kettelle36319110253836
30Michael Guariglia34519010251558
31Justin Bolton3411900026512
32Malik Ray33420010256529
33Phillip Diaz3282001027693
34Alex McCollum3142001025994
35Jarl Teien30420000260966
36Steve Sheehan2821800022470
37Santiago Tirres2652000025410
38Brian Schoenburg2252000023558
39Ashton Crowder21010110159616
40Jeremy R Allen1131000011720

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season finale from Homestead-Miami Speedway will air as a one-hour condensed broadcast on Sunday, November 8 at 7:30PM ET, directly after the real-world NASCAR Cup Series champion is crowned at Phoenix Raceway.

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Paul Velasco

Paul Velasco