Ryan Luza Returns to Winner’s Circle in eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Action at Homestead
March 18th, 2020 by Chris Leone
Ryan Luza continued his streak of four consecutive top-five finishes in eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series action at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a victory in Tuesday night’s event, the third race of the 2020 eNCiS season. Luza’s win, which saw him lead 39 of the race’s 134 laps, marked the first for Williams Esports in series competition.
The event marked a return to officially sanctioned NASCAR racing in the wake of NASCAR’s decision to suspend real-world events through May 3 in the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic. Tuesday’s broadcast kicked off with the announcement of the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series, where real-world NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, and NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoor Trucks Series drivers will face off in a series of iRacing events in the coming weeks.
From there, it was back to normal for the 40 best stock car sim racers in the world, with 134 laps at one of the most popular tracks on the schedule ahead of them. The names that dominated most of the race were no surprise, as Luza, polesitter Keegan Leahy, and 2019 Championship 4 driver Bobby Zalenski combined to lead all but 20 laps. Letarte Esports’ Chris Shearburn was the other big leader, spending 18 laps out front while running an alternate pit strategy.
The race went green until Lap 64, when Nathan Lyon blew a tire to bring out the first caution, and contact between Caine Cook and Eric Smith caused a second caution not long after that. But as was the case in the first two races of the season, green flag laps were the norm, as 35 drivers finished on the lead lap. Steve Sheehan was the only DNF after hitting the water barrels at the entrance to pit road after trying to pit off of Turn 4, collecting Casey Kirwan in the process but not triggering the caution.
Full results from eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series action at Homestead-Miami Speedway were as follows:
Fin. |
St. |
No. |
Name |
Manufacturer |
Laps |
Led |
Interval |
Best Lap |
Pts |
1 | 3 | 53 | Ryan Michael Luza | Toyota | 134 | 39 | 0 | 31.291 | 44 |
2 | 5 | 99 | Logan Clampitt | Ford | 134 | 1 | -4.083 | 31.407 | 40 |
3 | 1 | 32 | Keegan Leahy | Chevrolet | 134 | 42 | -4.454 | 31.23 | 40 |
4 | 13 | 21 | Garrett Lowe | Ford | 134 | 0 | -5.609 | 31.419 | 37 |
5 | 11 | 36 | Chris Shearburn | Ford | 134 | 18 | -5.731 | 31.327 | 37 |
6 | 25 | 46 | Jimmy Mullis | Chevrolet | 134 | 0 | -8.023 | 31.285 | 35 |
7 | 21 | 5 | Matt Bussa | Toyota | 134 | 0 | -8.342 | 31.385 | 34 |
8 | 6 | 83 | Bobby Zalenski | Toyota | 134 | 33 | -11.712 | 31.362 | 34 |
9 | 12 | 47 | Jeremy R Allen | Chevrolet | 134 | 0 | -11.968 | 31.383 | 32 |
10 | 9 | 77 | Ashton Crowder | Chevrolet | 134 | 0 | -12.773 | 31.403 | 31 |
11 | 7 | 8 | Michael Conti | Chevrolet | 134 | 0 | -14.048 | 31.464 | 30 |
12 | 27 | 24 | Jake Nichols | Ford | 134 | 0 | -14.72 | 31.455 | 29 |
13 | 16 | 90 | Zack Novak | Chevrolet | 134 | 1 | -14.72 | 31.434 | 29 |
14 | 23 | 37 | Christian Challiner | Ford | 134 | 0 | -14.8 | 31.362 | 27 |
15 | 24 | 41 | Dylan Duval | Chevrolet | 134 | 0 | -15.576 | 31.434 | 26 |
16 | 4 | 25 | Nick Ottinger | Ford | 134 | 0 | -15.721 | 31.424 | 25 |
17 | 14 | 10 | Justin Bolton | Chevrolet | 134 | 0 | -17.013 | 31.43 | 24 |
18 | 31 | 88 | Brad Davies | Chevrolet | 134 | 0 | -17.056 | 31.32 | 23 |
19 | 28 | 33 | Michael Guest | Chevrolet | 134 | 0 | -17.825 | 31.463 | 22 |
20 | 18 | 42 | Bob Bryant | Chevrolet | 134 | 0 | -18.984 | 31.22 | 21 |
21 | 19 | 16 | Chris Overland | Ford | 134 | 0 | -19.341 | 31.444 | 20 |
22 | 33 | 3 | Blake Reynolds | Toyota | 134 | 0 | -19.796 | 31.45 | 19 |
23 | 35 | 18 | Graham A. Bowlin | Ford | 134 | 0 | -21.291 | 31.559 | 18 |
24 | 2 | 2 | Ray Alfalla | Ford | 134 | 0 | -21.699 | 31.255 | 17 |
25 | 8 | 9 | Eric J. Smith | Ford | 134 | 0 | -22.506 | 31.433 | 16 |
26 | 29 | 97 | John Gorlinsky | Toyota | 134 | 0 | -22.666 | 31.375 | 15 |
27 | 36 | 17 | Kollin Keister | Ford | 134 | 0 | -23.006 | 31.586 | 14 |
28 | 40 | 51 | Malik Ray | Chevrolet | 134 | 0 | -24.084 | 31.469 | 13 |
29 | 39 | 6 | Nathan Lyon | Ford | 134 | 0 | -24.806 | 31.667 | 12 |
30 | 15 | 27 | Corey Vincent | Chevrolet | 134 | 0 | -27.05 | 31.376 | 11 |
31 | 17 | 14 | Brandon Hayse Kettelle | Ford | 134 | 0 | -27.62 | 31.553 | 10 |
32 | 20 | 15 | Michael Guariglia | Chevrolet | 134 | 0 | -27.675 | 31.526 | 9 |
33 | 32 | 75 | Phillip Diaz | Chevrolet | 134 | 0 | -29.93 | 31.364 | 8 |
34 | 22 | 66 | Jarl Teien | Toyota | 134 | 0 | -31.31 | 31.4 | 7 |
35 | 34 | 54 | Alex McCollum3 | Chevrolet | 134 | 0 | -31.338 | 31.497 | 6 |
36 | 30 | 55 | Caine Cook | Ford | 133 | 0 | -1 L | 31.558 | 5 |
37 | 26 | 79 | Brian Schoenburg | Ford | 133 | 0 | -1 L | 31.246 | 4 |
38 | 10 | 4 | Santiago Tirres | Toyota | 133 | 0 | -1 L | 31.399 | 3 |
39 | 38 | 23 | Casey Kirwan | Ford | 124 | 0 | -10 L | 31.757 | 2 |
40 | 37 | 1 | Steve Sheehan | Toyota | 47 | 0 | -87 L | 31.719 | 1 |
The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season continues on March 31 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The race can be streamed live at 9PM ET/6PM PT on eNASCAR.com/live and iracing.com/live. Further details on the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series will be announced later this week. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.