Track Specs: 1.54-mile oval / 167 laps
Conti’s finish: 11th
Davies’ finish: 30th
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (June 1, 2020) – Thanks to trouble ahead of them, both Michael Conti and Brad Davies emerged from the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series event last Friday night at the virtual Atlanta Motor Speedway with gains in the series point standings.
Michael Conti (No. 8 WR 1 Sim Chassis Chevrolet) and Brad Davies (No. 88 TrueTimber® Camo Chevrolet) both had speed and solid race craft on the 1.54-mile oval, with Conti finishing 11th and Davies 30th after an incident not of his making (Watch the full race.). Both drivers remained solidly in the playoff points mix as well.
Davies qualified ninth and Conti 11th, giving them a good shot at contention before the green flag even waved. The JR Motorsports teammates wasted little time proving it, too, advancing into the top five in short order. Davies was fifth just 13 laps in, and Conti was eighth behind him at that point. At lap 37, Davies was third, battling for second with Corey Vincent, and Conti was right behind his teammate when the first caution flag of the night waved for an accident on the front stretch.
Both drivers dived onto pit road for their first stops, and Conti got out second. Davies lost five spots in the exchange and lined up eighth for the restart. As the field roared toward Turn 3, Keegan Leahy went to the apron underneath Davies and hit the left rear quarter panel of the No. 88. The impact turned the TrueTimber® Camo Chevrolet sideways to the field, where he was struck by several cars. After pitting again to get a handle on the damage, Davies restarted 38th in the 40-car field.
On that restart, Conti immediately began to press leader Kollin Keister for the top spot, but it was barely a lap later that Leahy turned Graham Bowlin in a replay of his move on Davies and brought out the caution again. Davies returned to pit road on several occasions over the remaining laps, but the damage had been done and he wound up 30th at the finish.
Conti continued to run up front over the first half of the event, through several caution flags and restarts. In the second half of the race, the pace turned to longer runs, and Conti’s WR1Sim Chassis Chevrolet tended to fade after about 35 laps or so.
Conti pitted for the second time with around 60 laps remaining, a couple of laps before the rest of the leaders did. That cycled him to the lead for five laps, but the older tires and a lack of long-run performance combined to push him back to 11th at the checkered flag.
Ray Alfalla won the event, with Garrett Lowe, Caine Cook, Chris Shearburn and Leahy comprising the top five.
After eight rounds of the eNCCiS, Conti moved up a spot to fifth in series points, trailing the leader by 37 points and holding a 20-point cushion over the playoff cut line. Davies dropped two spots after being bumped out of contention, 54 points adrift of the leader and three above the cut line.
The series reached the halfway point of its season, and just eight races remain until the top eight in the points will battle for the $100,000 top prize in the playoffs.
Next up for the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series is a non-points All-Star race on June 16 at a virtual venue to be named. Coverage will be shown on eNASCAR.com and twitch.tv/iracing.
Michael Conti, driver No. 8 WR1 Sim Chassis JR Motorsports Chevrolet team
“We decided to use our Charlotte car after one of our best intermediate track performances in a very long time and even after an 11th-place finish, I definitely think that was the right way to go. I think we made a few mistakes with the setup and could've adapted it better for Atlanta, but all-in-all, it was a solid night for the No. 8 WR1 Chevrolet. A lot of our closest competitors in points had issues tonight, including Brad (Davies), so we came out with a net gain which is all I can really ask for. We've shown during the first half of the regular season that we have the speed to win; we just have to put it together. Going into our series' one-month break before Indy with a 20-point buffer on ninth in points is exactly where I hoped we'd be. It's quite the turnaround for where we stood after week three (33rd). We'll use the next few weeks to get a lot of R&D in and we'll look forward to running up front when we hit the Brickyard!”
Brad Davies, driver No. 88 TrueTimber® Camo JR Motorsports Chevrolet team
“We’re pretty disappointed with the No. 32. It was early in the race, and on the first lap of a restart he decided it would be a good idea to go to the apron and force us into a three-wide situation. It was a rookie mistake by a veteran driver and it cost us a chance at another good finish tonight. On a positive note, the car was really fast again, so I’m really proud of everyone that helped focus on making our cars fast. (Points leader) Ryan Luza also had troubles tonight and we were able to make gains even though we came home 30th. Plus we are seventh in points and still very much alive for the playoffs. So we’ll just try to focus on the positives, put this race behind us and move on to Indy in a few weeks.”