Pruitt Picks-up Pocono Win

The second half of the NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series (NiCCS) kicked-off this past week at the Pocono Raceway. The Pennsylvanian triangle provided a unique challenge on the 2011 Season Two schedule and provided two consecutive blockbuster races which set the landscape of the top five for the week. When the hundreds of online races were complete and the virtual dust settled from Pocono, it was Chad Pruitt celebrating as the Week Seven winner in the NiCCS.

Week 8 found the NiCSS competitors negotiating the Tricky Triangle. None did it better than Chad Pruitt.

Pruitt took home the first race of the week at Pocono on Tuesday. The race was rated at 4743 sof points and featured a nineteen car field. Five yellows slowed the event for nineteen of the fifty laps. Pruitt led two laps of the race including the checkered flag lap which is when he led Chris Overland, Richie Davidowitz, Brandon Buie and Joshua Fennell across the stripe. Parker Hammons led the most laps with twelve and was one of seven sim racers who swapped the lead fifteen times. Polesitter Dylan Duval recorded the fastest lap of the race (53.282 seconds). With their finishes in this race, Pruitt, Overland and Davidowitz were credited with first, third and fifth overall for the week at Pocono.

Two hours later it was NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship (NiSWC) driver Joshua Laughton recording a big win at the Tricky Triangle. Laughton led thirty-three circuits in the race, which was slowed by seven yellow flags. Nearly half the race unfolded under yellow as twenty-four laps were run between seven caution flag periods. Theo Olson ran second to Laughton while Patrick Fogel, Jared Crawford and Rod “Rowdy” Merritts Jr. completed the top five. Polesitter Timmy Hill led ten laps before finishing ninth. Laughton’s and Olson’s finishes were good enough to take home second and fourth for the week at Pocono.

Over 1600 drivers took a green flag over the seven days of competition at Pocono. John Sanna saw the most green silks of any driver with thirty-three while Duval and Hal James took the checkered flag seven times each. Duval led 339 laps over his thirteen starts. Jon Adams set the fastest qualifying time of the week with a 53.222 second lap around the 2.5 mile tri-oval, with Hill, Chris Seymour, Alex Warren and Duval completing the top five. Andrew Berger topped the Time Trial standings at Pocono followed by Seymour, Bob Bieber, Michael Tasillo and Sascha Wesler.

Combined with his win and Tyler Hudson’s rough Pocono luck (just 207 points for three wins in six starts), Laughton extends his point lead to 262 points with five weeks remaining in the season. Crawford runs third, just thirty-two points behind Hudson for second. Hill and Duval are fourth and fifth respectively, with just nine markers between them leaving Pocono.

Jim Johnston holds court in Division Two while Chase Elliott has taken the lead in Division Three. Ten points is the margin between Buddy Higgins and Shelvin Johnson after seven weeks of racing in Division Four. Edward Smith2 has the top spot in Division Five while Patrick Davis paces Division Six. One point is the difference between Marten Tett and Shem Rivera in Division Seven with TJ Thompson, Joseph Capocciama and Steven Mcgarrity not too far behind. Devin Chapman holds the lead in Division Eight with Chris A. Wood having the advantage in Division Nine. Kevin Sockow rounds out divisional leaders as he has the point in Division Ten.

From one of the longest tracks to the shortest, the NiCCS heads to the Bristol Motor Speedway bullring for Week Eight. This is the time in the season where drivers will begin to make their final pushes for the championship while some will be gunning hard for wins at the tight Bristol track. Who will rise to the occasion in Thunder Valley? Be here next week at inRacingNews to find out!

Until then, keep the hammer down and we’ll see you at the track!

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