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Olatunbosun Wins eNASCAR iRacing Series Opener at Daytona

Olatunbosun Wins eNASCAR iRacing Series Opener at Daytona

Femi Olatunbosun has won his first eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series race in the 2022 season opener at Daytona International Speedway.

A day to remember for Femi Olatunbosun as he claimed his very first victory in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, setting a grandstand finish at Daytona International Speedway.

In his first race driving for Clint Bowyer Racing, Femi Olatunbosun survived not only numerous cautions, but also an intense green-white-checkered charge to the finish, to earn his first career eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series victory from Daytona International Speedway on Tuesday night. As long as he can remain in the top 20 in series points through the regular season, the win all but guarantees the Revere, Massachusetts native a spot in the 2022 series playoffs.

Elliott Sadler Esports’ Garrett Manes was second and Stewart-Haas eSports’ Steven Wilson was third, with Olatunbosun just .009 and .011 seconds ahead of them at the line, respectively. After Manes tried to isolate the leading duo from the pack and make it a drag race to the line, Wilson pushed Olatunbosun just enough before taking his own stab at the checkered flag to help counter Manes’ momentum on what would have been the winning move.

Unlike recent previous years, including last year’s caution-free running, the herd was much thinner at the finish thanks to a number of incidents that took out everyone from series debutants to past champions and playoff drivers. With the NASCAR Cup Series Next Gen car making its superspeedway debut in the series, even the 40 best virtual stock car racers in the world faced an adjustment period, and the cautions started flying as soon as six laps into the 80-lap race.

After a number of yellows piled on as the race continued, the biggest one came with just a handful of laps remaining. Malik Ray, well-known for being one of the top superspeedway drivers in the series, took a push from Charlotte Phoenix driver Kollin Keister that went awry, spinning him from the bottom lane into the front of the field and collecting many of the top remaining racers. That set up the first of three possible overtime finishes, and with drivers taking the white flag, it was a mad—yet clean—dash to the finish from there.

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

Fin.

St.

No.

Name

Manufacturer

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

Pts

11179Femi OlatunbosunFord841546.21240
21731Garrett ManesChevrolet84-0.009046.19435
32010Steven  WilsonFord84-0.011046.19134
428Michael ContiChevrolet84-0.1151846.47333
52546Jimmy MullisChevrolet84-0.207045.84532
61315Blake ReynoldsFord84-0.219245.99331
7941Dylan DuvalFord84-0.253045.89130
81243Kollin KeisterToyota84-0.6921846.16029
9345Keegan LeahyToyota84-0.757046.21428
103133Taylor HurstChevrolet84-0.883046.25427
11518Bobby ZalenskiToyota84-0.995046.26026
12623Mitchell deJongToyota84-2.358046.34725
13406Parker RetzlaffFord84-2.532046.17524
141495Casey KirwanChevrolet84-2.548046.32823
15262Liam BrothertonChevrolet84-3.036046.33922
163814Nickolas SheltonFord84-3.112046.22521
172340Dylan AultChevrolet84-3.224046.39220
18344Ryan  LuzaChevrolet84-6.516046.15119
192816Blade WhittFord84-6.616046.22618
20775Matt BussaFord84-11.498046.19217
213255Allen BoesToyota84-12.257046.02716
221024Cody ByusFord84-13.361045.91015
233951Ray AlfallaToyota84-13.877045.96114
243521Garrett LoweFord84-17.817245.83113
25848Graham A. BowlinToyota84-19.816046.23112
26197Malik RayFord84-22.186646.32211
27125Nick OttingerChevrolet84-25.9482346.21310
283619Vicente SalasToyota83-1 L046.0919
292254Kyle PeddleToyota82-2 L046.6628
30219Michael GuestFord81-3 L046.1917
312936Brian MercurioChevrolet78-6 L046.3496
322712Derek JustisFord78-6 L046.3105
33303Corey VincentChevrolet76-8 L046.2474
343717Kaden HoneycuttFord66-18 L046.1433
35497Logan ClampittChevrolet56-28 L046.5822
361669Collin BowdenChevrolet15-69 L046.8311
371542Darik BourdeauChevrolet12-72 L046.8461
38335Zack NovakChevrolet11-73 L045.9321
391820Donovan StraussToyota10-74 L046.8071
402488Briar LaPraddChevrolet6-78 L046.7171

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series points after one round are as follows:

  1. Femi Olatunbosun, 40
  2. Garrett Manes, 35
  3. Steven Wilson, 34
  4. Michael Conti, 33
  5. Jimmy Mullis, 32
  6. Blake Reynolds, 31
  7. Dylan Duval, 30
  8. Kollin Keister, 29
  9. Keegan Leahy, 28
  10. Taylor Hurst, 27

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season continues in two weeks’ time, as drivers head west to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where XSET’s Ryan Luza is the defending winner. Broadcast coverage begins on Tuesday, March 1 at 8:30PM ET with Countdown to Green before a 9PM ET green flag, and can be seen at enascar.com/live.

For more information on the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, visit www.enascar.com or www.iracing.com/enascar. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

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Darren Buckner

Darren Buckner

Darren became a member of Simrace247 in January 2021 and has been a valuable addition to the platform ever since. He began his journey as an Editor and has progressed to the position of Editor in Chief, owing to his unwavering commitment and hard work. With his profound interest in motorsport and gaming, Darren is passionate about sharing news and exceptional content with like-minded people worldwide.View Author posts