iRacing NASCAR: Luza Hits Jackpot

When the cards were laid down in the closing laps of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series’ return to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Spacestation Gaming’s Malik Ray went all in, but XSET’s Ryan Luza ended the hand with all the poker chips.

We’ll spare you too much more of the analogy, but it was Luza who played his cards perfectly in the third round of the 2021 season to take his first win of the year, and fourth at this track in the past five years.

The former series champion and his team called the right pit strategy, getting back onto the lead lap on fresh tires and eventually reclaiming the lead after pitting under green flag conditions.

Ray tried his best to hang on and save fuel while hoping for a caution to either lock in his track position or give him a chance to pit and come back through the field on fresh tires, but he lost the top spot with six laps to go while in conservation mode.

“I was terrified of a yellow,” admitted Luza. “We were just sitting there praying for no yellow, because we were confident that no one could make it, and I was hoping that Steven (Wilson) would kind of stall out when our tires evened out, and he did. Luckily, the caution didn’t come out.

“It’s such a huge relief to have a win and be in the playoffs now. I’ve been stressing about it every week, because we’ve been missing speed, but we were pretty quick tonight. It’s really great to not have so much stress on the line, because we’re locked in now. So now it’s just coming out and trying to win more races.”

Not many people probably would’ve taken the bet that the second half of the race would go green to the finish, after the first six cautions of the entire season flew in the first 69 laps.

But after early incidents that eliminated top veterans like Ray Alfalla and Garrett Lowe and promising rookies like Mitchell deJong and Isaac Gann alike from winning contention, the field calmed down for the later stages, and got to Lap 134 without the need for overtime.

Roush Fenway Racing’s Steven Wilson finished second, the best performance of his rookie campaign so far, while XSET’s Casey Kirwan, Jim Beaver eSports’ Caine Cook, and Wilson’s teammate Nathan Lyon completed the top five.

On the other side of the coin, Williams Esports’ Jake Matheson and Clint Bowyer Racing’s Blade Whitt each tried to follow Ray’s strategy of getting to the finish without an extra pit stop, but each would lead just one lap out of the final six before needing to pull off.

Results from Tuesday’s eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway were as follows:

Fin.	St.	No.	Name	Manufacturer	Laps	Interval	Led	Best	Pts
1	9	4	Ryan Michael Luza	Ford	134		46	29.645	40
2	10	17	Steven Wilson	Ford	134	-1.644	40	29.590	35
3	6	38	Casey Kirwan	Ford	134	-4.801	0	29.681	34
4	19	15	Caine Cook	Ford	134	-6.431	0	29.721	33
5	5	6	Nathan Lyon	Ford	134	-6.553	0	29.684	32
6	17	18	Femi Olat	Toyota	134	-10.258	0	29.779	31
7	25	24	Jake Nichols	Ford	134	-10.350	0	29.744	30
8	20	97	Logan Clampitt	Chevrolet	134	-11.788	5	29.856	29
9	28	47	Brian Schoenburg	Chevrolet	134	-11.956	0	29.724	28
10	15	33	Taylor Hurst	Chevrolet	134	-12.566	0	29.690	27
11	8	66	Blake Reynolds	Chevrolet	134	-12.968	0	29.780	26
12	18	83	Bobby Zalenski	Chevrolet	134	-13.260	0	29.707	25
13	38	37	Derek Justis	Chevrolet	134	-13.419	0	29.611	24
14	34	1	Ashton Crowder	Toyota	134	-14.681	0	29.753	23
15	22	88	Brad Davies	Chevrolet	134	-15.407	0	29.762	22
16	21	9	Michael Guest	Ford	134	-16.167	0	29.728	21
17	12	32	Keegan Leahy	Toyota	134	-16.353	0	29.713	20
18	35	29	Zack Nichols	Ford	134	-16.613	0	29.679	19
19	7	10	Graham A. Bowlin	Ford	134	-16.693	0	29.683	18
20	29	75	Matt Bussa	Ford	134	-19.030	3	29.726	17
21	23	55	Vicente Salas	Ford	134	-21.588	0	29.748	16
22	33	16	John Gorlinsky	Ford	134	-24.949	0	29.689	15
23	16	36	Chris Shearburn	Chevrolet	134	-26.920	0	29.726	14
24	40	25	Nick Ottinger	Chevrolet	134	-37.473	0	29.649	13
25	3	3	Corey Vincent	Chevrolet	133	-1 L	5	29.732	12
26	39	52	Jake Matheson	Ford	133	-1 L	1	29.760	11
27	32	14	Blade Whitt	Ford	133	-1 L	1	29.795	10
28	13	67	Allen Boes	Chevrolet	133	-1 L	0	29.679	9
29	14	90	Zack Novak	Toyota	133	-1 L	0	29.761	8
30	24	77	Bob Bryant	Chevrolet	133	-1 L	0	29.826	7
31	31	11	Malik Ray	Ford	133	-1 L	26	29.610	6
32	1	46	Jimmy Mullis	Toyota	133	-1 L	7	29.729	5
33	27	8	Michael Conti	Chevrolet	133	-1 L	0	29.781	4
34	26	44	Isaac Gann	Chevrolet	132	-2 L	0	29.745	3
35	11	51	Ray Alfalla	Toyota	130	-4 L	0	29.674	2
36	30	2	Garrett Manes	Toyota	126	-8 L	0	29.813	1
37	36	79	Ryan Doucette	Ford	101	-33 L	0	29.715	1
38	2	23	Mitchell deJong	Toyota	83	-51 L	0	29.724	1
39	37	21	Garrett Lowe	Ford	72	-62 L	0	29.608	1
40	4	41	Dylan Duval	Ford	60	-74 L	0	29.705	1

 

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series driver points through three rounds are as follows:

1. Casey Kirwan, 88
2. Keegan Leahy, 80 (1 win)
3. Ryan Luza, 76 (1 win)
4. Chris Shearburn, 76
5. Corey Vincent, 76
6. Jake Nichols, 75
7. Femi Olat, 74
8. Michael Guest, 73
9. Michael Conti, 71
10. Logan Clampitt, 68

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series team points through three rounds are as follows:

1. XSET, 164
2. Team Dillon Esports, 138
3. Letarte Esports, 136
4. 23XI, 133
5. Mode Motorsports, 129
6. William Byron eSports, 127
7. Jim Beaver eSports, 126
8. JR Motorsports, 125
9. Roush Fenway Racing, 124
10. Kligerman Sports, 105

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series is back in action on March 16 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where four-time series champion Alfalla took the checkered flag last year.