Conti Scores Second Win of 2022 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Season at Richmond

March 30th, 2022 by

Images via Justin Melillo

If JR Motorsports’ Michael Conti had any fear that one win might not be enough to secure his 2022 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoff berth, he removed all doubt on Tuesday night at Richmond Raceway. The 2014 series champion, already a winner in Las Vegas, became the first driver to visit the winner’s circle twice this year, giving himself an additional tiebreaker if the series sees more regular season race winners than playoff spots once again.

Conti led a race-high 53 of the race’s 130 laps, surviving caution after caution in the late stages and holding off Charlotte Phoenix’s Graham Bowlin in the final handful of green-flag laps. 2020 series champion Nick Ottinger of William Byron eSports was third, while Team Dillon Esports’ Corey Vincent and Jim Beaver eSports’ Michael Guest, the latter of whom came from 38th on the grid, completed the top five. Polesitter Taylor Hurst, Vincent’s Team Dillon Esports teammate, led 48 laps and finished sixth.

Richmond is traditionally a high-attrition race with numerous cautions, and with double-digit yellow flags, Tuesday night was no exception. Despite all the incidents, however, 35 of the 40 starters were able to stay on the lead lap with damaged cars. Among the only drivers to call it quits early were RFK Racing’s Parker Retzlaff and William Byron eSports’ Logan Clampitt, who tangled to set up the final restart of the night, and XSET’s Casey Kirwan, who led 29 laps on an alternate pit strategy but couldn’t parlay the track position into a win.

Tuesday’s action also tightened up the points race, with the top five in series standings now separated by just nine points. Atlanta winner Steven Wilson of Stewart-Haas eSports leads Conti by one point, Ottinger by three, and Daytona winner Femi Olatunbosun of Clint Bowyer Racing by four, while Bowlin completes the top five. In the team standings, Jim Beaver eSports is the new leader, as Guest (sixth) and Blake Reynolds (tied for ninth) make them the only team with both drivers in the top 10.

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

Fin.

St.

No.

Name

Team

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

Pts
1 6 8 Michael Conti JR Motorsports 130 0.000 53 22.010 40
2 7 48 Graham A. Bowlin Charlotte Phoenix 130 -0.268 0 22.005 35
3 13 25 Nick Ottinger William Byron eSports 130 -0.666 0 22.076 34
4 3 3 Corey Vincent Team Dillon Esports 130 -0.888 0 22.134 33
5 38 9 Michael Guest Jim Beaver eSports 130 -0.879 0 22.141 32
6 1 33 Taylor Hurst Team Dillon Esports 130 -1.304 48 22.078 31
7 8 46 Jimmy Mullis Rise eSports 130 -1.592 0 22.179 30
8 21 75 Matt Bussa Mode Motorsports 130 -1.580 0 22.092 29
9 16 43 Kollin Keister Charlotte Phoenix 130 -1.859 0 22.135 28
10 36 21 Garrett Lowe Wood Brothers Racing 130 -1.897 0 22.038 27
11 20 10 Steven Wilson Stewart Haas Racing 130 -2.017 0 22.115 26
12 17 19 Vicente Salas Williams eSports 130 -2.102 0 21.940 25
13 10 5 Zack Novak Rise eSports 130 -2.206 0 22.139 24
14 5 23 Mitchell deJong 23XI 130 -2.219 0 22.176 23
15 19 20 Donovan Strauss Williams eSports 130 -2.319 0 22.140 22
16 15 79 Femi Olatunbosun Clint Bowyer Racing 130 -2.460 0 22.134 21
17 11 18 Bobby Zalenski Joe Gibbs Racing 130 -2.497 0 22.172 20
18 34 7 Malik Ray iRacing Motorsports 130 -2.629 0 22.058 19
19 29 15 Blake Reynolds Jim Beaver eSports 130 -2.670 0 22.121 18
20 28 42 Darik Bourdeau eRacr 130 -2.819 0 22.133 17
21 2 69 Collin Bowden eRacr 130 -2.894 0 22.067 16
22 24 4 Ryan Luza XSET 130 -2.967 0 22.152 15
23 30 2 Liam Brotherton Elliot Sadler eSports 130 -3.069 0 22.155 14
24 32 36 Brian Mercurio Letarte Esports 130 -3.186 0 22.107 13
25 35 17 Kaden Honeycutt Roush Fenway Keselowski 130 -3.238 0 22.108 12
26 33 54 Kyle Peddle Space Station Gaming 130 -3.445 0 22.234 11
27 37 40 Dylan Ault Letarte Esports 130 -3.593 0 22.197 10
28 27 88 Briar LaPradd JR Motorsports 130 -3.628 0 22.135 9
29 9 45 Keegan Leahy 23XI 130 -3.897 0 22.259 8
30 26 51 Ray Alfalla Joe Gibbs Racing 130 -3.922 0 22.049 7
31 39 14 Nickolas Shelton Clint Bowyer Racing 130 -4.024 0 22.255 6
32 40 12 Derek Justis iRacing Motorsports 130 -4.050 0 22.196 5
33 25 41 Dylan Duval Stewart Haas Racing 130 -4.158 0 22.155 4
34 14 24 Cody Byus Mode Motorsports 130 -4.254 0 22.107 3
35 12 31 Garrett Manes Elliot Sadler eSports 130 -4.395 0 22.216 2
36 31 6 Parker Retzlaff Roush Fenway Keselowski 126 Disqualified 0 22.127 1
37 4 97 Logan Clampitt William Byron eSports 123 -7L 0 22.100 1
38 23 95 Casey Kirwan XSET 119 -11L 29 22.026 1
39 22 16 Blade Whitt Wood Brothers Racing 96 -34L 0 22.237 1
40 18 55 Allen Boes Space Station Gaming 77 DNF 0 22.141 1

 

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

  1. Steven Wilson, 115
  2. Michael Conti, 114
  3. Nick Ottinger, 112
  4. Femi Olatunbosun, 111
  5. Graham Bowlin, 106
  6. Michael Guest, 102
  7. Bobby Zalenski, 100
  8. Matt Bussa, 98
  9. Jimmy Mullis, 93 (tie)
  10. Blake Reynolds, 93 (tie)

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season makes history two weeks from now at Bristol Motor Speedway, when the series takes to the dirt for the first time. Broadcast coverage begins on Tuesday, April 12 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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