Bussa, Kyle Long’s Mode Motorsports Visit eNASCAR Victory Lane in Coca-Cola 150 at Charlotte

May 25th, 2022 by

Images via Justin Melillo

For the second year in a row at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Malik Ray took a gamble to stay out front, but a different eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series veteran would end up in the winner’s circle. Matt Bussa returned Kyle Long’s Mode Motorsports to the winner’s circle for the second year in a row on Tuesday night, taking the Coca-Cola 150 after saving just enough fuel to cross the finish line and Justholding off former series champion Zack Novak of Rise Esports.

While this year’s event was shorter than previous eNASCAR rounds at Charlotte, it still ended up being a fuel mileage race thanks to just two cautions in the first 30 laps of the race. Outside polesitter Collin Bowden of eRacr spun on lap 24, collecting 2021 series runner-up Logan Clampitt of William Byron eSports and RFK Racing’s Parker Retzlaff, and Retzlaff’s teammate Kaden Honeycutt took rear contact to spin on the subsequent restart and bring out another yellow, but the race stayed clean and green from there.

As a result, the question became whether or not drivers should pit under green flag conditions, or attempt to hold out. Polesitter Michael Conti of JR Motorsports dominated the race before pitting on lap 70, leading the pack of drivers who gambled on fresh tires and refueling, while XSET’s Casey Kirwan pit 10 laps later. That enabled Ray to inherit the lead after running in the top 10 all night, and just like last year, he’d take it into the final stages of the race.

But a group of drivers committed to the same gamble, led by Bussa, Novak, and points leader Steven Wilson of Stewart-Haas eSports, saved enough to chase Ray down in the last few laps. Bussa was the first to get by on lap 96, and Ray pit a lap later. But that didn’t leave enough time for Novak, who had three more laps of fuel than Bussa, to get past, and Bussa would hang on for the win before his car ran out of fuel on the cool-down lap. Wilson’s fuel tank would run dry a little earlier, enabling Michael Guest of Jim Beaver eSports to take third and put his team back atop the team standings.

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series results from the Coca-Cola 150 at Charlotte Motor Speedway were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Name

Team

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

Pts
1 28 75 Matt Bussa Mode Motorsports 100 0.000 5 30.077 40
2 34 5 Zack Novak Rise eSports 100 -0.366 0 30.036 35
3 6 9 Michael Guest Jim Beaver eSports 100 -0.885 0 30.019 34
4 19 46 Jimmy Mullis Rise eSports 100 -4.327 0 29.933 33
5 33 51 Ray Alfalla Joe Gibbs Racing 100 -4.491 0 29.929 32
6 3 10 Steven Wilson Stewart Haas Racing 100 -5.068 0 29.853 31
7 22 31 Garrett Manes Elliot Sadler eSports 100 -6.124 0 29.995 30
8 4 45 Keegan Leahy 23XI 100 -6.358 0 29.862 29
9 20 18 Bobby Zalenski Joe Gibbs Racing 100 -6.807 0 29.952 28
10 32 21 Garrett Lowe Wood Brothers Racing 100 -7.646 0 30.075 27
11 30 16 Blade Whitt Wood Brothers Racing 100 -10.516 0 30.103 26
12 29 2 Liam Brotherton Elliot Sadler eSports 100 -13.204 0 29.995 25
13 21 36 Brian Mercurio Letarte Esports 100 -14.539 0 30.019 24
14 15 24 Cody Byus Mode Motorsports 100 -16.618 0 30.029 23
15 39 54 Kyle Peddle Space Station Gaming 100 -17.548 0 30.050 22
16 7 95 Casey Kirwan XSET 100 -18.048 10 29.857 21
17 17 23 Mitchell deJong 23XI 100 -18.997 0 29.975 20
18 36 3 Corey Vincent Team Dillon Esports 100 -20.307 0 29.996 19
19 8 25 Nick Ottinger William Byron eSports 100 -20.409 0 29.951 18
20 5 19 Vicente Salas Williams eSports 100 -21.724 0 29.949 17
21 11 48 Graham A. Bowlin Charlotte Phoenix 100 -21.836 0 30.034 16
22 25 42 Darik Bourdeau eRacr 100 -21.913 0 29.993 15
23 1 8 Michael Conti JR Motorsports 100 -22.295 69 29.952 14
24 18 15 Blake Reynolds Jim Beaver eSports 100 -23.360 0 29.891 13
25 13 20 Donovan Strauss Williams eSports 100 -24.506 0 29.957 12
26 14 79 Femi Olatunbosun Clint Bowyer Racing 100 -24.823 0 30.028 11
27 10 55 Allen Boes Space Station Gaming 100 -25.658 0 30.026 10
28 16 33 Taylor Hurst Team Dillon Esports 100 -26.203 0 29.981 9
29 26 88 Briar LaPradd JR Motorsports 99 -1L 0 30.024 8
30 23 4 Ryan Luza XSET 99 -1L 0 30.120 7
31 9 41 Dylan Duval Stewart Haas Racing 99 -1L 0 30.028 6
32 37 14 Nickolas Shelton Clint Bowyer Racing 99 -1L 0 30.129 5
33 38 12 Derek Justis iRacing Motorsports 98 -2L 0 30.059 4
34 35 40 Dylan Ault Letarte Esports 98 -2L 0 30.132 3
35 12 7 Malik Ray iRacing Motorsports 97 DNF 16 29.950 2
36 31 17 Kaden Honeycutt Roush Fenway Keselowski 97 -3L 0 29.961 1
37 24 97 Logan Clampitt William Byron eSports 43 -57L 0 30.004 1
38 2 69 Collin Bowden eRacr 25 -75L 0 30.014 1
39 27 6 Parker Retzlaff Roush Fenway Keselowski 24 -76L 0 30.064 1

 

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

  1. Steven Wilson, 229
  2. Matt Bussa, 219
  3. Nick Ottinger, 217
  4. Femi Olatunbosun, 214
  5. Casey Kirwan, 199
  6. Michael Guest, 192
  7. Blake Reynolds, 182
  8. Corey Vincent, 181
  9. Taylor Hurst, 177
  10. Garrett Manes, 175

The 2022 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series resumes in next week at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, which will play host to the series for the first time. Broadcast coverage begins on Tuesday, May 31 at 8:30PM ET with Countdown to Green before the 9PM ET green flag. Live coverage of all the action 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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