Davison Captures First eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series Win at Circuit of the Americas
May 20th, 2021 by Chris Leone
Over the first three rounds of the 2021 eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series, James Davison had been one of the most dominant drivers not to take a victory. Running up front on the dirt banks of Bristol Motor Speedway and leading most of the series’ return to Talladega Superspeedway, it felt like only a matter of time until the Australian would break through with a win.
That time finally came on Wednesday evening. Much like Tuesday night’s eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series race, where Mitchell deJong led every lap, Davison ran away with the first road course event in Pro Invitational history at Circuit of the Americas. Yielding the top spot for only a handful of the race’s 32 laps thanks in part to the pit cycle, Davison thoroughly beat the field of top NASCAR Cup Series stars, posting a margin of victory of more than 18 seconds on Anthony Alfredo at race’s end.
William Byron was third, with Tyler Reddick and Chris Buescher completing the top five. Timmy Hill and Denny Hamlin would get into it heavily in the final laps of the race battling for sixth, with Hill prevailing as Hamlin went off track, while Josh Bilicki finished eighth, Ross Chastain charged from 30th on the grid to finish ninth, and 2021 Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell completed the top 10.
The closest that Davison came to any real peril was during mid-race pit stops, as the lapped car of Clint Bowyer made a late attempt at entering the pits and grazed Davison’s right side as he snuck past. However, Bowyer was far from the only driver to run into some sort of trouble on the famed Texas road course; of the 39 starters, only 23 would finish on the lead lap, with past series champions Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott the first drivers out of the race after just two laps apiece.
Full results from Wednesday’s eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series event at Circuit of the Americas were as follows:
Fin. |
St. |
No. |
Name |
Manufacturer |
Laps |
Interval |
Led |
Best |
1 | 1 | 15 | James Davison | Chevrolet | 32 | 26 | ||
2 | 2 | 38 | Anthony Alfredo | Ford | 32 | -18.191 | 6 | 2:13.861 |
3 | 5 | 24 | William Byron Jr | Chevrolet | 32 | -37.180 | 0 | 2:14.691 |
4 | 3 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Chevrolet | 32 | -38.617 | 0 | |
5 | 13 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Ford | 32 | -40.075 | 0 | |
6 | 8 | 66 | Timmy Hill | Toyota | 32 | -49.111 | 0 | 2:18.459 |
7 | 11 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 32 | -54.138 | 0 | |
8 | 7 | 52 | Joshua Bilicki | Ford | 32 | -56.012 | 0 | |
9 | 30 | 42 | Ross Chastain | Chevrolet | 32 | -59.421 | 0 | 2:15.499 |
10 | 4 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 32 | -1:00.804 | 0 | 2:17.925 |
11 | 6 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 32 | -1:04.606 | 0 | |
12 | 10 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 32 | -1:16.817 | 0 | |
13 | 18 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 32 | -1:32.883 | 0 | 2:15.512 |
14 | 12 | 77 | Justin Haley | Chevrolet | 32 | -1:36.336 | 0 | |
15 | 36 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Chevrolet | 32 | -1:48.315 | 0 | |
16 | 23 | 51 | Garrett Smithley | Chevrolet | 32 | -1:54.661 | 0 | 2:18.681 |
17 | 9 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Ford | 32 | -1:54.912 | 0 | |
18 | 22 | 21 | Matt DiBenedetto | Ford | 32 | -1:55.974 | 0 | |
19 | 15 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 32 | -1:56.593 | 0 | 2:16.566 |
20 | 14 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Toyota | 32 | -2:01.870 | 0 | |
21 | 19 | 41 | Cole Custer | Ford | 32 | -2:02.066 | 0 | |
22 | 17 | 0 | Quin Houff | Chevrolet | 32 | -2:11.265 | 0 | 2:15.903 |
23 | 16 | 48 | Alex W Bowman | Chevrolet | 32 | -2:55.999 | 0 | |
24 | 31 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | Toyota | 31 | -1 L | 0 | |
25 | 35 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Chevrolet | 31 | -1 L | 0 | |
26 | 32 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr | Toyota | 31 | -1 L | 0 | 2:19.229 |
27 | 21 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 31 | -1 L | 0 | |
28 | 38 | 43 | Erik Jones | Chevrolet | 31 | -1 L | 0 | |
29 | 39 | 53 | Joey Gase | Chevrolet | 31 | -1 L | 0 | |
30 | 26 | 78 | Kyle Tilley | Ford | 31 | -1 L | 0 | |
31 | 20 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 31 | -1 L | 0 | |
32 | 24 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | 31 | -1 L | 0 | 2:21.039 |
33 | 27 | 87 | Jesse Iwuji | Chevrolet | 31 | -1 L | 0 | 2:17.424 |
34 | 29 | 79 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 30 | -2 L | 0 | 2:19.509 |
35 | 34 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Ford | 29 | -3 L | 0 | 2:17.595 |
36 | 37 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | Chevrolet | 13 | -19 L | 0 | |
37 | 33 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 8 | -24 L | 0 | |
38 | 25 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 2 | -30 L | 0 | |
39 | 28 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 2 | -30 L | 0 |
The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series wraps up the first half of its season on Wednesday, June 2 with a visit to the virtual streets of Chicago. Tune in at 8PM ET on FS1 to watch NASCAR’s Next Gen Cup Series cars barrel past Buckingham Fountain on a brand new circuit. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.