Gilliland Foreshadows RIR Success

Week Six of the NASCAR iRacing.com Class A Series (NiCAS) took us to Richmond International Speedway for a 130 lap showdown under the lights. The tight confines of the aging speedway is always intense, but this week mixed many of the top NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) drivers, as well as NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS) competitors, and provided us with a week to remember. With so many top level drivers setting their sites on one trophy at the 0.75mi short track, tempers rose early, and you may be surprised with who came out on top.

Adam Gilliland leads the way in Sunday’s 5659 SoF race

Before going on to win the NiPS race at Richmond on Tuesday night, Adam Gilliland dominated a nearly identical SoF race Sunday night to put his name atop the NiCAS weekly standings. Gilliand led 100 of the 130 laps, holding off NiSWC front runner Tyler Hudson to grab 358 points, and Richmond bragging rights. Hudson led twenty four laps before falling just short of Gilliland when the checkered flag flew. Ryan Luza put together a solid race, running in the top five all night before ending up a solid third. Kyle Peddle was the last driver to score over 300 points in fourth with 304, while former NiSWC driver Greg Spears rounded out the top five.

Another headline coming out of Week Six was the hard luck many top drivers experienced in Virginia. In total, six NiPS and NiSWC drivers filled in the bottom eight spots in Sunday’s big race. Favorites like Michael Conti, Brian Schoenburg, and Chad J Laughton all fell to the bottom of the board after incidents spoiled their night, allowing many Class A regulars to score their biggest point totals of the year.

Bad luck bit many top drivers at Richmond

In a column dominated by two drivers all season long, the two managed to tie with the most starts in Richmond. Both James Robinson and Howard Bell raced thirteen times, both scoring three top fives, with Robinson scoring the only win of the two. While most drivers piled up incident points at the tight short track, others managed to keep their nose relatively clean. The most impressive stat line of the week belongs to Greg Spears, who tallied just two incident points in his eight races, all the while scoring three wins and averaging 241 points.

Now half way into the final season of 2012, the battle for the championship is beginning to shape up, and it is two familiar names up front. Conti currently holds a slim lead over Chad J Laughton, both drivers have had success in the top levels of racing on iRacing.com. Kyle Peddle sits an impressive third and is the first NiCAS regular in the standings, with Brandon Buie and Greg Spears rounding out the top five.

It doesn’t get any easier for drivers and teams as the NiCAS heads to Dover International Raceway to begin the season’s second half next week. Over the years, the Monster Mile has claimed many Chevrolet Impala’s, and Week Seven promises more of the same challenges presented in the past. The concrete surface combined with high banks provide unreal speeds on the relatively short one mile track. Be sure to strap in tight when you go racing at Dover, and when all the smoke settles, head back to inRacingNews for a full wrap up of the week’s biggest stories.

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