deJong Finally Gives 2021 eNASCAR Season Repeat Winner at Road America

June 30th, 2021 by

The moment we were all waiting for in the 2021 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season finally came on Tuesday night: somebody won a second race of the season.

That “somebody” was Mitchell deJong, and the bigger surprise than seeing the 23XI driver take the checkered flag from the pole at Road America was the fact that he didn’t lead every lap. Stewart-Haas eSports’ Graham Bowlin managed to sneak in two of the 31 laps of the race up front during the mid-race pit cycle, but that was all that anyone has for the California native, as he made it two for two on road courses after a perfect race at Circuit of the Americas earlier this season.

Letarte Esports’ Bobby Zalenski, who had formerly been perfect on road courses until deJong made it into the series for the first time this season, finished second after matching deJong’s pace for much of the night. Third place went to Roush Fenway Racing’s Steven Wilson, the series’ top rookie on points, who would climb into the final playoff spot for the moment after holding off Bowlin for the spot. Wilson would surpass Jim Beaver eSports’ Michael Guest, who took contact early in the night and limped home to a 31st place finish.

In fact, contact and off-track excursions were the name of the game for many drivers on Tuesday night, as they all attempted to adapt to the newest track on the eNASCAR schedule. Whether Turn 1, Turn 5, or the infamous Canada Corner, multiple drivers would either see their days end in the track’s heaviest braking zones, or at least lose a handful of spots after missing their braking point and sliding off track. Without caution flags to bunch the field back up, the result was a major spread between the lead lap drivers. Still, in spite of the challenges, an overwhelming majority of starters—34 out of 40, to be exact—would complete all 31 laps of the race.

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series results from Road America were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Name

Manufacturer

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

Pts
1 1 23 Mitchell deJong Toyota 31 29 2:07.536 40
2 3 83 Bobby Zalenski Chevrolet 31 -6.693 0 2:08.114 35
3 4 17 Steven Wilson Ford 31 -17.538 0 2:08.250 34
4 5 10 Graham A. Bowlin Ford 31 -20.792 2 2:08.108 33
5 10 3 Corey Vincent Chevrolet 31 -36.476 0 2:08.701 32
6 7 46 Jimmy Mullis Toyota 31 -37.016 0 2:09.269 31
7 9 55 Vicente Salas Ford 31 -39.285 0 2:08.864 30
8 14 66 Blake Reynolds Chevrolet 31 -43.888 0 2:09.469 29
9 2 25 Nick Ottinger Chevrolet 31 -48.077 0 2:08.198 28
10 11 38 Casey Kirwan Ford 31 -48.446 0 2:10.373 27
11 6 8 Michael Conti Chevrolet 31 -50.151 0 2:08.946 26
12 15 41 Dylan Duval Ford 31 -51.505 0 2:08.998 25
13 18 90 Zack Novak Toyota 31 -54.517 0 2:09.398 24
14 19 2 Garrett Manes Toyota 31 -54.983 0 2:09.157 23
15 13 33 Taylor Hurst Chevrolet 31 -58.158 0 2:09.439 22
16 20 21 Garrett Lowe Ford 31 -58.347 0 2:08.658 21
17 12 67 Allen Boes Chevrolet 31 -59.381 0 2:09.632 20
18 25 88 Brad Davies Chevrolet 31 -1:06.884 0 2:09.152 19
19 23 44 Anthony Burroughs Chevrolet 31 -1:12.295 0 2:09.493 18
20 40 1 Ashton Crowder Toyota 31 -1:12.553 0 2:09.322 17
21 16 97 Logan Clampitt Chevrolet 31 -1:12.894 0 2:10.203 16
22 22 77 Bob Bryant Chevrolet 31 -1:23.035 0 2:09.367 15
23 32 14 Blade Whitt Ford 31 -1:23.404 0 2:10.554 14
24 36 75 Matt Bussa Ford 31 -1:30.763 0 2:10.432 13
25 8 4 Ryan Michael Luza Ford 31 -1:31.075 0 2:09.442 12
26 35 16 John Gorlinsky Ford 31 -1:36.135 0 2:09.974 11
27 30 37 Derek Justis Chevrolet 31 -1:38.520 0 2:10.220 10
28 28 51 Ray Alfalla Toyota 31 -1:41.393 0 2:10.251 9
29 37 36 Chris Shearburn Chevrolet 31 -1:41.644 0 2:10.197 8
30 17 32 Keegan Leahy Toyota 31 -1:42.121 0 2:09.017 7
31 29 9 Michael Guest Ford 31 -1:42.445 0 2:11.104 6
32 31 79 Ryan Doucette Ford 31 -1:55.634 0 2:10.391 5
33 27 18 Femi Olat Toyota 31 -1:55.945 0 2:11.211 4
34 38 6 Nathan Lyon Ford 31 -1:58.327 0 2:11.465 3
35 21 24 Jake Nichols Ford 18 -13 L 0 2:10.317 2
36 34 29 Zack Nichols Ford 16 -15 L 0 2:11.648 1
37 24 15 Caine Cook Ford 15 -16 L 0 2:11.506 1
38 33 11 Malik Ray Ford 14 -17 L 0 2:12.786 1
39 26 52 Jake Matheson Ford 13 -18 L 0 2:11.554 1
40 39 47 Brian Schoenburg Chevrolet 7 -24 L 0 2:12.369 1

 

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoff grid after 11 races is as follows:

  1. Mitchell deJong, 2 wins, 245 points
  2. Keegan Leahy, 1 win, 271 points
  3. Bobby Zalenski, 1 win, 259 points
  4. Vicente Salas, 1 win, 242 points
  5. Logan Clampitt, 1 win, 235 points
  6. Michael Conti, 1 win, 232 points
  7. Ryan Luza, 1 win, 223 points
  8. Bob Bryant, 1 win, 223 points
  9. Chris Shearburn, 1 win, 196 points
  10. Steven Wilson, 267 points

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series returns to action two weeks from now, taking on New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 13. 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. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iRacing.com.

Images via Justin Melillo

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