iRacing 2021 eNASCAR Daytona Conti claims first

Conti wins the iRacing the first eNASCAR Coca-Cola Series with a memorable moment to savor at Daytona International Speedway.

Eighteen years to the day after his boss, Dale Earnhardt Junior won the NASCAR Cup Series Shootout at Daytona International Speedway, JR Motorsports driver Michael Conti marked the occasion by putting a virtual version of the red #8 Chevrolet in victory lane.

For Conti, though, Monday night’s iRacing triumph may have had bigger implications. By winning the first eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series points race of the 2021 season, the former series champion and 2020 Championship 4 driver has effectively punched his ticket into this fall’s playoffs. More impressively, he did it despite qualifying 38^th in the 40-car field.

“I’m over the moon with that one,” Conti said after the race. “Anybody that knows me knows that plate tracks are not my specialty. I admittedly don’t know what I’m doing half the time. But going into the race with everything that Dale, JR Motorsports, Chad Wheeler, and everybody has put behind me in this offseason, I knew I had to step up my game.

“In years past, I played it safe and stayed in the back, and it’d get to three by three and we couldn’t go anywhere. Tonight, we almost did the same thing, but about 15 laps in, I told my crew chief ‘we’re going to go for it, if we wreck, we wreck.’ Some things went our way, and I’m super excited to get the victory and not have to worry about winning our way in for the next several months.”

Series veteran Michael Guest was second in his debut for Jim Beaver eSports, utilizing a two-tire pit stop to take the lead and hanging on to push Conti after the field caught him.

Jake Matheson proved his top-five finish in last week’s non-points Clash was no fluke for Williams Esports, as he crossed the line third. Team Dillon Esports’ Corey Vincent and Kligerman Sport’s Isaac Gann completed the top five.

While the race went caution-free just as it had last year, two major incidents caught up some of the field’s heavy hitters along the way.

Early-race contact between former series champions Ryan Luza and Zack Novak ended their hopes at good finishes, with renowned superspeedway racer Malik Ray also taking on heavy damage. The second wreck came on the final lap, with Conti’s close friend and roommate Logan Clampitt spinning from the front of the middle lane and much of the lead pack getting caught up.

Monday’s event featured NASCAR president Steve Phelps giving the command to start engines. During the pre-race show, the revised Road to Pro ladder to make it to the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series was also unveiled. The Road to Pro Qualifying Series has been split into two parts, with the second half featuring just the top 70 drivers from the first half.

The top 20 of that group will join the bottom 20 of the eNCiS in the renamed Road to Pro Contender Series, with the top 20 of that group earning spots in the big show for 2022.

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series results from Daytona International Speedway were as follows:

Fin.	St.	No.	Name	Manufacturer	Laps	Interval	Led	Best	Pts
1	38	8	Michael Conti	Chevrolet	100	0.000	14	43.864	40
2	34	9	Michael Guest	Ford	100	-0.419	1	43.352	35
3	36	52	Jake Matheson	Ford	100	-0.819	0	43.565	34
4	16	3	Corey Vincent	Chevrolet	100	-1.059	0	43.360	33
5	15	44	Isaac Gann	Chevrolet	100	-1.106	1	43.470	32
6	4	83	Bobby Zalenski	Chevrolet	100	-2.005	6	43.577	31
7	10	38	Casey Kirwan	Ford	100	-2.326	9	43.993	30
8	25	55	Vicente Salas	Ford	100	-2.706	0	43.374	29
9	2	36	Chris Shearburn	Chevrolet	100	-3.508	12	43.467	28
10	11	88	Brad Davies	Chevrolet	100	-3.593	0	43.502	27
11	1	23	Mitchell deJong	Toyota	100	-3.667	14	43.370	26
12	22	18	Femi Olat	Toyota	100	-4.724	15	43.483	25
13	24	2	Garrett Manes	Toyota	100	-4.740	0	43.363	24
14	27	10	Graham A. Bowlin	Ford	100	-4.860	2	43.609	23
15	7	24	Jake Nichols	Ford	100	-4.933	0	43.441	22
16	31	75	Matt Bussa	Ford	100	-5.069	0	43.569	21
17	3	32	Keegan Leahy	Toyota	100	-5.168	5	43.916	20
18	35	15	Caine Cook	Ford	100	-5.501	0	43.654	19
19	6	21	Garrett Lowe	Ford	100	-7.736	3	43.960	18
20	9	97	Logan Clampitt	Chevrolet	100	-8.728	11	43.432	17
21	21	25	Nick Ottinger	Chevrolet	100	-11.816	0	43.582	16
22	12	51	Ray Alfalla	Toyota	100	-12.258	0	43.548	15
23	30	16	John Gorlinsky	Ford	100	-13.458	0	43.482	14
24	40	77	Bob Bryant	Chevrolet	100	-13.515	0	43.482	13
25	32	17	Steven Wilson	Ford	100	-13.624	0	43.656	12
26	29	6	Nathan Lyon	Ford	100	-13.808	0	43.335	11
27	26	46	Jimmy Mullis	Toyota	100	-19.224	0	43.777	10
28	37	14	Blade Whitt	Ford	100	-22.199	0	43.329	9
29	39	79	Ryan Doucette	Ford	100	-34.921	0	43.550	8
30	28	66	Blake Reynolds	Chevrolet	100	-35.420	0	43.408	7
31	13	41	Dylan Duval	Ford	100	-37.630	0	43.564	6
32	8	29	Zack Nichols	Ford	99	-1 L	6	43.470	5
33	5	1	Ashton Crowder	Toyota	99	-1 L	0	43.522	4
34	33	33	Taylor Hurst	Chevrolet	99	-1 L	0	43.368	3
35	14	67	Allen Boes	Chevrolet	99	-1 L	0	43.799	2
36	17	37	Derek Justis	Chevrolet	98	-2 L	0	43.376	1
37	18	47	Brian Schoenburg	Chevrolet	97	-3 L	0	43.379	1
38	20	4	Ryan Michael Luza	Ford	81	-19 L	0	44.022	1
39	23	11	Malik Ray	Ford	34	-66 L	0	43.896	1
40	19	90	Zack Novak	Toyota	36	DSQ	1	44.023	0

 

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season returns to Tuesdays for the remainder of the season, starting with February 23’s visit to Homestead-Miami Speedway. Luza and Chris Shearburn split the victories as the series visited the popular track twice last year.