iRacing eNASCAR: Davison Dominates Streets of Chicago

For the second event in a row, Rick Ware Racing’s James Davison was far and away the dominant driver in an eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series race on Wednesday night.

But unlike his win in iRacing two weeks ago at Circuit of the Americas, which came before NASCAR’s real-world debut at the track, this one was a little different: it came in the Windy City 110, a special race through the streets of Chicago conceptualized and realized by NASCAR, iRacing, and the city itself.

Wednesday’s race was the culmination of an extensive collaboration between all parties over more than a year. The question—what if NASCAR held a street race for the Cup Series—had been asked many times over the years, but bringing a new event to life in Chicago made its first steps towards becoming a reality when iRacing covertly scanned city streets last fall. Since then, the 2.14-mile track underwent extensive behind-the-scenes development, from the painstaking recreation of iconic Chicago landmarks to revisions to the track layout before the final release. In the middle of the broadcast, the track was officially released to the public, allowing all iRacing members to give it a try immediately after watching the end of the race.

As for the on-track product itself, well, that was all Davison. The top qualifier managed to avoid getting caught up in a Turn 1 incident with second place starter Anthony Alfredo, and from there he never looked back. In fact, the chase up front had more to do with just how many cars the Australian veteran of IMSA and Indy Lights street races would put a lap down. When the race’s 51 laps were completed, just Josh Bilicki and Justin Haley joined him on the lead lap, owing to the tricky nature of the course that caught numerous drivers out of position.

“I knew I had to get through turn one,” said Davison. “I saw the torpedo coming there and saw everyone get caught up in that, so that was a bit of a shame. But I wanted to thank everyone at NASCAR and iRacing for the effort they clearly went through to put this event on and render the whole track. I’d love to see a street race, it was a good bit of fun for us and a good night for Rick Ware Racing.”

eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series Windy City 110 results were as follows:

Fin.	St.	No.	Name	Manufacturer	Laps	Interval	Led	Best
1	1	15	James Davison	Chevrolet	51		51	1:27.414
2	3	52	Joshua Bilicki	Ford	51	-56.601	0	1:28.754
3	7	77	Justin Haley	Chevrolet	51	-1:22.023	0	1:28.823
4	6	51	Garrett Smithley	Chevrolet	50	-1 L	0	1:29.509
5	9	19	Martin Truex Jr	Toyota	50	-1 L	0	1:28.677
6	26	66	Timmy Hill	Ford	50	-1 L	0	1:29.410
7	11	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	50	-1 L	0	1:29.949
8	17	42	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	49	-2 L	0	1:30.454
9	16	00	Quin Houff	Chevrolet	49	-2 L	0	1:31.165
10	19	22	Joey Logano	Ford	48	-3 L	0	1:30.878
11	10	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr	Chevrolet	48	-3 L	0	1:30.451
12	22	87	Jesse Iwuji	Chevrolet	48	-3 L	0	1:32.498
13	20	41	Cole  Custer	Ford	48	-3 L	0	1:30.641
14	33	78	BJ Mcleod	Ford	47	-4 L	0	1:30.602
15	18	53	Joey Gase	Chevrolet	47	-4 L	0	1:30.470
16	23	3	Austin  Dillon	Chevrolet	47	-4 L	0	1:31.789
17	4	8	Tyler Reddick	Chevrolet	44	-7 L	0	1:28.342
18	12	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	41	-10 L	0	1:29.946
19	30	17	Chris Buescher	Ford	32	-19 L	0	1:29.020
20	28	23	Bubba Wallace	Toyota	31	-20 L	0	1:30.521
21	32	7	Corey LaJoie	Chevrolet	29	-22 L	0	1:30.084
22	31	99	Daniel  Suarez	Chevrolet	27	-24 L	0	1:30.263
23	5	24	William Byron Jr	Chevrolet	27	-24 L	0	1:29.451
24	8	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	17	-34 L	0	1:29.838
25	2	38	Anthony Alfredo	Ford	17	-34 L	0	1:28.393
26	21	20	Christopher Bell	Toyota	16	-35 L	0	1:31.149
27	27	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	15	-36 L	0	1:28.967
28	15	4	Kevin  Harvick	Ford	14	-37 L	0	1:31.107
29	24	6	Ryan  Newman	Ford	10	-41 L	0	1:34.091
30	25	43	Erik Jones	Chevrolet	9	-42 L	0
31	35	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Chevrolet	8	-43 L	0	1:37.119
32	34	48	Alex W Bowman	Chevrolet	4	-47 L	0	1:31.933
33	37	18	Ty Gibbs	Toyota	4	-47 L	0
34	13	14	Chase Briscoe	Ford	3	-48 L	0	1:31.471
35	14	5	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	2	-49 L	0
36	29	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	2	-49 L	0	1:34.084
37	36	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	1	-50 L	0

 

Details on the remainder of the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series schedule will be released in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series for the world’s top sim racers will return to action on June 22 at 9PM ET from Pocono Raceway.