You didn’t have to be happy with the outcome of Tuesday night’s eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Logitech G Challenge 100 at Michigan International Speedway, especially not if your favorite driver or team found themselves on the outside of the playoffs looking in. What you can’t deny, though, is that it was one of the most compelling races of the year.

Mode Motorsports’ Matt Bussa took advantage of a last-lap spin for 23XI’s Keegan Leahy and the loss of momentum for Williams Esports’ Jake Matheson to shoot into the lead on the final lap and become the 13th different winner in 14 races so far in 2021. Bussa’s win, combined with his incoming points position, was enough to get him into the 10-driver playoff field, bumping out XSET’s Ryan Luza. It also marked the first win in the series for Mode, owned by Super Bowl champion and Kansas City Chiefs guard Kyle Long.

Due to the track’s similarities to Auto Club Speedway, where Kligerman Sport’s Bob Bryant scored a victory on a one-stop strategy earlier this year, a large group of drivers needing a victory looked to play the same card on Tuesday night. What appeared to be a gutsy call looked pretty good when the first caution of the night came out at just about halfway. Elliott Sadler eSports’ Garrett Manes and Jim Beaver eSports’ Caine Cook made contact, triggering a multi-car wreck that caught playoff contenders Luza and Vicente Salas of Spacestation Gaming.

The second caution would come right after the first, as contact between Charlotte winner Ray Alfalla of Joe Gibbs Racing and Stewart-Haas eSports’ Dylan Duval sent Alfalla spinning from the lead. Two more yellow flags shortly thereafter would keep the field bunched, while what had been shaping up to be a clean and green run to the end from there came to another abrupt halt with the fifth and final caution on the night for a multi-car incident including Williams’ Zack Nichols and JTG Daugherty Racing’s Derek Justis.

By then, a handful of drivers—the Mode teammates of Bussa and Jake Nichols, Leahy, Matheson, and XSET’s Casey Kirwan—had established themselves as the drivers to beat, with a number of different scenarios in play. A win from Leahy would be his second of the season, and keep Luza on the playoff grid. Wins from Bussa or Kirwan were likely going to be good enough to get them in at Luza’s expense. The quintet would battle heavily for the top spot, with Leahy briefly breaking away, but his defense on a strong run from Matheson on the final lap ended with a spin. That slowed Matheson up enough for Bussa to break through and score the victory.

In the end, only one past eNASCAR champion would make this year’s playoff field: Daytona winner Michael Conti. Alfalla’s eighth-place finish wasn’t enough to get him back into the top 20 in points, while Luza fell to 19th in the standings with his DNF, fifth-place finisher Zack Novak of Richmond Raceway eSports needed a win, and defending champion Nick Ottinger of William Byron eSports suffered a heartbreaking connection issue early in the race that left him six laps down despite starting third.

Full results from Tuesday’s eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Logitech G Challenge 100 at Michigan International Speedway were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Name

Manufacturer

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

Pts

1 31 75 Matt Bussa Ford 100 19 38.423 40
2 29 52 Jake Matheson Ford 100 -0.173 1 38.395 35
3 39 24 Jake Nichols Ford 100 -0.232 2 38.358 34
4 8 8 Michael Conti Chevrolet 100 -0.246 9 38.144 33
5 21 90 Zack Novak Toyota 100 -0.268 0 38.485 32
6 15 38 Casey Kirwan Ford 100 -0.312 4 38.454 31
7 25 46 Jimmy Mullis Toyota 100 -0.342 0 38.325 30
8 33 51 Ray Alfalla Toyota 100 -0.359 16 38.398 29
9 34 21 Garrett Lowe Ford 100 -0.463 0 38.371 28
10 22 44 Anthony Burroughs Chevrolet 100 -0.610 0 38.467 27
11 23 6 Nathan Lyon Ford 100 -0.722 0 38.578 26
12 27 79 Ryan Doucette Ford 100 -0.832 0 38.558 25
13 2 1 Ashton Crowder Toyota 100 -1.132 0 38.361 24
14 10 41 Dylan Duval Ford 100 -1.312 5 38.477 23
15 26 11 Malik Ray Ford 100 -1.569 0 38.646 22
16 7 23 Mitchell deJong Toyota 100 -1.649 0 38.677 21
17 30 2 Garrett Manes Toyota 100 -2.089 0 38.741 20
18 1 97 Logan Clampitt Chevrolet 100 -2.221 32 38.442 19
19 5 77 Bob Bryant Chevrolet 100 -2.507 0 38.292 18
20 16 83 Bobby Zalenski Chevrolet 100 -2.922 0 38.615 17
21 18 33 Taylor Hurst Chevrolet 100 -4.301 1 38.481 16
22 37 29 Zack Nichols Ford 100 -4.512 0 38.660 15
23 17 18 Femi Olat Toyota 100 -4.711 0 38.359 14
24 38 47 Brian Schoenburg Chevrolet 100 -4.930 0 38.770 13
25 12 10 Graham A. Bowlin Ford 100 -6.030 0 38.435 12
26 40 15 Caine Cook Ford 100 -6.559 0 38.934 11
27 24 67 Allen Boes Chevrolet 100 -6.677 0 38.600 10
28 6 32 Keegan Leahy Toyota 100 -7.729 11 38.563 9
29 13 88 Brad Davies Chevrolet 100 -7.869 0 38.196 8
30 28 66 Blake Reynolds Chevrolet 100 -8.255 0 38.471 7
31 19 9 Michael Guest Ford 100 -14.190 0 38.540 6
32 35 14 Blade Whitt Ford 100 -45.609 0 38.673 5
33 20 17 Steven Wilson3 Ford 99 -1 L 0 38.634 4
34 36 37 Derek Justis Chevrolet 98 -2 L 0 38.707 3
35 3 25 Nick Ottinger Chevrolet 95 -5 L 0 38.613 2
36 4 36 Chris Shearburn Chevrolet 81 -19 L 0 38.423 1
37 11 3 Corey Vincent Chevrolet 76 -24 L 0 38.413 1
38 14 16 John Gorlinsky Ford 63 -37 L 0 38.495 1
39 32 55 Vicente Salas Ford 54 -46 L 0 39.090 1
40 9 4 Ryan Michael Luza Ford 48 -52 L 0 38.856 1

 

The 2021 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoff grid, with point totals prior to the playoff reset, is as follows:

  1. Mitchell deJong, 2 wins, 327 points
  2. Graham Bowlin, 1 win, 336 points
  3. Keegan Leahy, 1 win, 332 points
  4. Michael Conti, 1 win, 327 points
  5. Bobby Zalenski, 1 win, 322 points
  6. Logan Clampitt, 1 win, 291 points
  7. Jimmy Mullis, 1 win, 283 points
  8. Vicente Salas, 1 win, 280 points
  9. Matt Bussa, 1 win, 275 points
  10. Bob Bryant, 1 win, 270 points

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoffs open in two weeks’ time from Darlington Raceway. Any of the 10 playoff drivers who can win in the next three races will earn a guaranteed spot in the Championship 4, with the rest of that group filled out based on points. As always, coverage begins with iRacing Countdown to Green at 8:30PM ET, with the racing action picking up at 9PM ET on eNASCAR.com/live and iRacing’s social media channels. Evan Posocco, Steve Letarte, and Parker Kligerman will be on the call for the remainder of the 2021 season. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iRacing.com.

Images via Justin Melillo

Share Button


Interested in special offers, free giveaways, and news?

Stay In Touch

Ad