Road to Pro, Week 10 – Part II
July 2nd, 2013 by Jaime Baker
As we get closer to the finish of the 2013 Season 2, the battle to get into Elite Eleven of the NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series intensifies. This past week drivers were at Kentucky Speedway and some drivers leapt into the cut as others fell out. When all is said and done, drivers are positioning themselves to set-up a run for the last quarter of the season.
The Magic Number has gone down from 2655 to 2599 points. Again as we close-out the season this number will go down again but, as of right now, these sim-racers should be targeting the latter number to clinch mathematically.
No one was able to clinch at Kentucky Speedway, but some of the top 50 were eliminated from obtaining 11th place or better.
ALMOST SAFE
POS | NAME | PNTS | DROP | CLINCH # | IN? |
1 | Randy Hockaday | 2453 | 252 | 398 | IN |
2 | Tom Moustakas | 2409 | 262 | 452 | IN |
3 | Simon Crochart | 2369 | 0 | 230 | IN |
Simon Crochart did not participate last week so it made for Randy Hockaday to get the top spot in the standings. Although Simon now has a week to give and a strong week can not only clinch but put him back on top and in great position for the championship. Simon can clinch with a point total of 230 this week.
Tom Moustakas and Randy Hockaday can not mathematically clinch this week but with that said if Tom and Randy both have strong weeks and the Magic Number goes down, you could see these two clinch this week.
THERE BUT NOT THERE YET
POS | NAME | PNTS | DROP | CLINCH # | IN? |
4 | Kwame Adjei | 2220 | 230 | 609 | IN |
5 | Charlie Foster | 2218 | 171 | 552 | IN |
6 | Steven Gilbert | 2214 | 218 | 603 | IN |
Still in a strong postion, these drivers need to have a good week to set them selves up for next week to be in a clinching position. None of these drivers can clinch this week but very strong weeks and they will soon be in position to clinch.
My apologies to Steven Gilbert, when I was switching the stats over from my spreadsheet to the article, I missed his name. I told him I’d give him a shout-out this week. Steven can have a very strong week and he will be in contention for even a top 5 in the series.
ON THE BUBBLE
POS | NAME | PNTS | DROP | CLINCH # | IN? |
7 | Kyle Wicka | 2146 | 202 | 655 | IN |
8 | Nicholas Goertzen | 2093 | 153 | 659 | IN |
9 | Brandon Hauff | 2089 | 207 | 717 | IN |
10 | Sascha Wesler | 2080 | 165 | 684 | IN |
11 | Nicholas Morse | 2076 | 55 | 578 | IN |
These are your bubble drivers. Drivers who may have a bad week in this category can fall out of the Elite Eleven, but a strong week here and they can set themselves up. Nicholas Morse is an interesting situation as his drop is low enough that he can gain a significant amount of spots if he has a solid week.
OUTSIDE LOOKING IN
POS | NAME | PNTS | DROP | CLINCH # | IN? |
12 | Kory Henry | 2060 | 215 | 754 | IN |
13 | Brandon Hauck | 2048 | 0 | 551 | IN |
14 | Dwayne Vincent | 2038 | 205 | 766 | IN |
15 | Armando Vargas | 2025 | 114 | 688 | IN |
16 | Chris Overland | 2011 | 183 | 771 | IN |
18 | Benjamin Burmeister | 2003 | 59 | 655 | IN |
23 | Nolan Scott | 1799 | 0 | 800 | IN |
These guys have a great chance of getting in, but they need strong weeks to finish out the season to get in. Brandon Hauck, Benjamin Burmeister and Nolan Scott are in this category because their drops are either relatively low or they have weeks to give. Look for these guys this week to catapult up the standings if they have stong weeks at Daytona.
LIVING ON A PRAYER
POS | NAME | PNTS | DROP | CLINCH # | IN? |
17 | Mitchell Hunt | 2009 | 158 | 748 | IN |
19 | Brandon Coppinger | 1992 | 198 | 805 | IN |
20 | Alex Scribner | 1992 | 201 | 808 | IN |
21 | Ashley Miller | 1939 | 94 | 754 | IN |
22 | Steven Eszenyi | 1877 | 97 | 819 | IN |
24 | Shane Dougherty | 1789 | 163 | 973 | IN |
25 | Matt Spangler | 1718 | 165 | 1046 | IN |
Most drivers in the top 40 are still in the running to get into the Elite Eleven. Here though is the balance of the Top 25. These racers need to have very strong weeks and lots of help from the guys ahead of them to have a chance. Ashley Miller and Steven Eszenyi have very low drop weeks and could push up to the Outside Looking In category but they need very strong weeks and help to move up.
ELIMINATED
POS | NAME | PNTS | DROP | CLINCH # | IN? |
39 | Todd Hendrick | 1357 | 131 | 1373 | ELIM |
40 | John Schweickart | 1343 | 98 | 1354 | ELIM |
41 | Brenden Koehler | 1339 | 94 | 1354 | ELIM |
42 | Smith Waller Jr | 1338 | 108 | 1369 | ELIM |
44 | Scott Ickes | 1296 | 85 | 1388 | ELIM |
45 | Edward Burch Jr | 1268 | 125 | 1456 | ELIM |
46 | Rob Pendleton | 1259 | 146 | 1486 | ELIM |
47 | Cody Vincent | 1251 | 0 | 1348 | ELIM |
49 | Randall Robertson | 1228 | 55 | 1426 | ELIM |
50 | TJ Thompson | 1202 | 71 | 1468 | ELIM |
These drivers in the top 50 have been eliminated from obtaining their black stripe. There are not enough points remaining for them to move up. If a driver is in the top 50 but not on this list they do have a very outside remote chance. They are not mathematically eliminated.
So that’s the way I see it as sim-racers head to Daytona. Stay locked-in for a post Daytona update next week on inRacingNews.