Hometown Hero

Three wide racing in Turn Three.

Texas Motor Speedway played host to Week Six of the NASCAR iRacing Class C Fixed Series and a hometown hero was able to make his way to victory lane during the week’s top Strength of Field event. 2,202 sim racers took the track for at least one race during the week, each looking for a trip to Texas’ victory lane, but only one could lay claim to victory. The 1.5-mile speedway provides some of the closest racing that iRacing has to offer, but this week it provided more of a challenge than usual. Since this series runs a fixed setup (everyone has the same setup), some drivers had concerns that the setup was too loose, which made the Silverado more difficult to drive compared to other big speedways on the NiCCF schedule.

After three cautions and multiple restarts in the 4088 Strength of Field event, Adam Gilliland (Texas) drove his No. 2 Alpinestars/JDR Graphics Chevrolet Silverado to victory lane after a drag race back to the line with Randy Hockaday (Carolina). Gilliland started in the third position, and was able to lead seven of the event’s 35 laps en route to the victory. Fourth place went to Chris Overland (Texas) who started from inside row three in the No. 7 Menards Silverado. Completing the top five is New York native Brandon Hauff who started from the ninth position and carefully worked his way into the top five as the checkered flag flew.

By taking the victory in the week’s top SoF event, Gilliland earned the most championship points for the week with 257. Championship point leader Kollin Keister (Atlantic) continued to build his lead as he added 254 points to his total for the season. Hockaday’s second place effort in the high SoF event earned him 242 points for his effots. Last week’s winner Brandon Buie (Atlantic) continued a good stretch as he ended the week in the fourth position with a total of 239 points. Rounding out the top five is JR Motorsports late model driver Josh Berry (Mid-South) who make two starts and earned one victory while amassing a total of 230 points for Week Six.

Allen Boes (2) and Justin Bolton (1) battle for the lead.

Qualifying up front at a place like Texas isn’t all that important, but it never hurts to start near the front of the field. Let’s look at this week’s top qualifiers. Jason Jacoby (Georgia) took the top spot for the week with a time of 30.053 seconds. Keister is always one to watch when it comes to qualifying in the NiCCF and this time he was second fastest on the week with a time of 30.055 seconds. Simon Crochart (France) was always near the top of the qualifying charts during previous seasons, but has been absent from the qualifying chart for most of Season One. His time of 30.058 was good enough for the third position to end the week. Bill Byron (Carolina) was the final driver in the 30.0-second bracket as he completed Week Six in the fourth position with a time of 30.074. Filling the remainder of the top five is Eugene Mozgunov (Central-Eastern Europe) with a time of 30.100.

With a very successful week, Keister expanded his point lead over Michael Guest (Indiana). Keister now holds a 182 point lead over Guest heading into Week Seven at Rockingham. Berry holds down the third position, but is 256 points back with six weeks remaining in the season. Wade Hustad (Midwest) sits in the fourth position, but is 332 points behind Keister, so making a comeback will be a tough challenge for Mr. Hustad. Wes Weidman (Great Plains) rounds out the top five after six weeks of tough racing, but is also over 300 points behind (343 to be exact), so a run at the championship may seem out of the question.

As the smoke settles in Texas, the sim racers who compete in the NiCCF will head back to North Carolina for a trip to Rockingham Speedway. The Rock, as it’s affectionately known to many, is one of the most difficult tracks to master on the NASCAR circuit. Its big bumps and slick racing surface are able to provide those who are up to the challenge just that—a challenge. Make sure to come back next week to see who was able to master The Rock.

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