Casey Kirwan wins eNASCAR Throwback night at Darlington

May 17th, 2023 by

For the second time in the 2023 season, XSET’s Casey Kirwan is an eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series winner.

After an early scuffle with the virtual Lady in Black which saw his 2011 Tony Stewart throwback Chevrolet sustain damage to the right side, the 2022 series champion managed his tires and pulled some strategy to take the lead in the middle of the race. After a pair of restarts with drivers on differing tire strategies, Kirwan was able to separate himself from the pack and hold off a late charge from William Byron eSports’ Nick Ottinger in the closing laps.

The win is the fifth of Kirwan’s career, which has now hit 100 total starts since his debut in the series back in 2018. He ties both JR Motorsports’ Michael Conti and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Bobby Zalenski at two wins on the season after eight races. Tucker Minter with Team Dillon eSports and Steven Wilson with Stewart-Haas Racing are the other two winners this year, both sitting with one apiece.

Throwback night started with Charlotte Phoenix driver Graham Bowlin on the pole position, but after three laps, William Byron eSports’ Matt Bussa was able to take the early control. On Lap 7, Kirwan was involved in a crash with the other Charlotte Phoenix driver, Femi Olatunbosun, as well as Joe Gibbs Racing’s Daniel Faulkingham.

Kirwan elected not to pit and fix the damage. Post-race, Kirwan said he was more worried that he slid the tires, but that turned out to be a non-issue when he fought his way into the top five before green flag pit stops.

Before pit stops, Ottinger had taken control from his teammate Bussa, but after, Kirwan and Bowlin managed to leap frog into the top spots around Ottinger, Conti and Bussa. On a differing strategy was Jim Beaver eSports’ Malik Ray, who opted to pit late, with just about 40 laps remaining, in hopes to catch a caution at the right time.

When he emerged from the pits, he took his lap back, but then went into a super save mode, where the leader Kirwan was trapped, in a sense, on lesser tires. That allowed Bowlin, Ottinger, and the rest of the front runners to accordion back in.

A second caution a few laps later laid the groundwork for Ray to attempt his strategy. He and his Jim Beaver eSports teammate Garrett Lowe started on the front row on their older tires, while the row behind had Zalenski and eRacr’s Collin Bowden on only two fresh tires. Bowlin and Kirwan were back in the third row on four new tires.

Right before a quick third and final caution, Ray had taken the lead, Zalenski moved into second, and Bowlin and Kirwan had moved up a row. On that final restart, Ray could not hold off Kirwan. Ottinger struggled to get by Ray on the bottom, but eventually did as the field sorted itself behind. Ottinger was able to close in, but ran out of time as Kirwan took the checkers.

With another multi-time winner on the season, those currently looking to get into the eNASCAR Playoffs on points can breathe a little easier. Only six races remain in the 2023 regular season, but if there is a new winner in every remaining week, those without a win could find themselves on the outside looking in.

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series results from Darlington Raceway were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Name

Team

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

Pts
1 14 95 Casey Kirwan XSET 120 0.000 32 29.111 40
2 6 25 Nick Ottinger William Byron eSports 120 -0.333 18 29.022 35
3 10 8 Michael Conti JR Motorsports 120 -1.674 1 29.114 34
4 1 48 Graham A. Bowlin Charlotte Phoenix 120 -3.108 3 29.159 33
5 28 7 Malik Ray Jim Beaver eSports 120 -4.401 17 29.380 32
6 26 12 Garrett Manes fgrAccel 120 -4.471 0 29.229 31
7 4 97 Matt Bussa William Byron eSports 120 -5.068 36 29.300 30
8 21 18 Bobby Zalenski Joe Gibbs Racing 120 -5.507 0 29.288 29
9 29 33 Tucker Minter Team Dillon eSports 120 -5.557 0 29.299 28
10 11 3 Jordy Lopez Team Dillon eSports 120 -5.612 5 29.320 27
11 2 10 Steven Wilson Stewart-Haas Racing 120 -5.813 0 29.279 26
12 8 11 Parker White Tony Kanaan Esports 120 -5.959 0 29.297 25
13 15 69 Collin Bowden eRacr 120 -6.449 0 29.190 24
14 23 34 Allen Boes Front Row Motorsports 120 -7.201 0 29.160 23
15 39 46 Jimmy Mullis Rise eSports 120 -7.250 0 29.287 22
16 19 38 Michael Cosey Jr Front Row Motorsports 120 -7.291 0 29.361 21
17 13 17 Kaden Honeycutt RFK Racing 120 -7.618 0 29.293 20
18 20 40 Dylan Ault LETARTE eSports 120 -8.134 0 29.240 19
19 5 27 Cody Byus Elliott Sadler eSports 120 -8.184 0 29.397 18
20 33 45 Michael Guest 23XI 120 -9.732 0 29.203 17
21 24 1 Darik Bourdeau Elliott Sadler eSports 120 -10.085 0 29.152 16
22 22 36 Brandon McKissic LETARTE eSports 120 -10.703 0 29.422 15
23 12 20 Wyatt Tinsley Kansas City Pioneers 120 -11.371 0 29.471 14
24 31 75 Zack Novak Rise eSports 120 -11.747 0 29.609 13
25 36 23 Keegan Leahy 23XI 120 -11.871 0 29.412 12
26 32 77 Ryan Doucette Pittsburgh Knights 120 -11.895 0 29.368 11
27 16 43 Femi Olatunbosun Charlotte Phoenix 120 -13.105 0 29.516 10
28 37 31 Derek Justis Kansas City Pioneers 120 -13.314 0 29.431 9
29 35 2 Corey Vincent Pittsburgh Knights 120 -14.668 0 29.429 8
30 18 66 Tyler Garey Tony Kanaan Esports 120 -15.324 0 29.324 7
31 38 4 Ryan Luza XSET 120 -15.397 5 29.425 6
32 30 15 Garrett Lowe Jim Beaver eSports 120 -15.971 3 29.464 5
33 25 88 Kevin King JR Motorsports 120 -16.671 0 29.323 4
34 34 42 Kollin Keister eRacr 120 -22.473 0 29.156 3
35 17 51 Donovan Strauss Williams eSports 120 -23.330 0 29.295 2
36 27 6 Timmy Holmes RFK Racing 120 -23.932 0 29.357 1
37 9 41 Dylan Duval Stewart-Haas Racing 120 -27.225 0 29.303 1
38 3 54 Daniel Faulkingham Joe Gibbs Racing 119 -1L 0 29.522 1
39 7 55 Vicente Salas Williams eSports 101 -19L 0 29.567 1

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

  1. Michael Conti, 244, 2 wins
  2. Nick Ottinger, 230
  3. Casey Kirwan, 216, 2 wins
  4. Graham Bowlin, 211
  5. Tucker Minter, 207, 1 win
  6. Jordy Lopez Jr., 206
  7. Malik Ray, 199
  8. Michael Cosey Jr., 199
  9. Bobby Zalenski, 189, 2 wins
  10. Keegan Leahy, 172
  11. Garrett Manes, 166
  12. Steven Wilson, 157, 1 win

In two weeks, the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series returns with a Memorial Day weekend classic at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Race coverage will start on Tuesday, May 30 at 9 p.m. ET at eNASCAR.com/live. The Countdown to Green, now presented by Wendy’s, will kick things off at 8:30 p.m. ET.

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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