Off and Rolling in Darlington

This Season for the NASCAR iRacing.com Class A Series (NiCAS) is off and rolling, and it rolled right into quite possibly the toughest oval track in the world for Week Two of the twelve week season. The famed Darlington Speedway is known for its rough and tumble racing, and this week did not disappoint. Making laps around the 1.366 mile, one groove, egg of a track is hard enough when practicing all alone, add 30+ cars into the mix and you have a recipe for mayhem.

As to be expected, the yellow flag was out early and often in the majority of races and drivers struggled to find any grip or room to race. Even the best setup slips and slides all over the place, which is why experience always plays a huge part in deciding races at Darlington, and that proved true once again.

Ray Alfalla has made it clear in the past that he loves the challenge Darlington poses, and he showed his affection towards ” The Lady in Black”, racing seven times, winning six. In the process, Alfalla man handled the top split of the week, pacing the thirty car field for 103 of the 110 laps. Another seasoned veteran of sim racing, Brian Schoenburg finished second, and Cody Byus continued his strong start with a third place effort. Also a big shout out to Peter Bennett, who put in a solid fifth place run in the 5747 SoF to throw his name into the talk for the NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS).

As is the norm on the more difficult tracks, participation numbers took a dip this week, but that did not stop some drivers from racing as often as they could. Gabriel Solis of Texas took the green flag fifteen times on the week, despite the high numbers of starts, the track “Too Tough to Tame” proved to be just that for Solis, and many other drivers, as he went without a win on the week. Only thirty of the 420 drivers daring to take part in the weeks festivities were able to take home a trophy, with the most wins going to.. surprise surprise.. Ray Alfalla.

Cody Byus and Joshua B Gerrald currently hold the top two spots in the NiCAS Division One standings, followed by the NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) tandem of Chris Overland and Ray Alfalla. Also near the front, it is no surprise to find the former Landon Cassill Qualifying Challenge Champion Kenny Humpe rounding out the top five early in the season.

Next week iRacing.com will throw another curve ball at drivers and setup gurus alike as the series makes its first ever trip to the newly released Twin Ring Motegi. It will be 110 laps around the oval similar in shape to Darlington, but with extremely different handling characteristics. It will be a level playing field for everyone at the newly released track, so it will be interesting to see who takes a liking to the new stopping grounds for the NiCAS. As always be sure to check back here at inRacingNews next week for a full report of all the racing action.