Track Specs: .625-mile oval / 120 laps
Conti’s finish: 17th
Davies’ finish: 21st
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (June 17, 2020) – The two-car JR Motorsports team of Michael Conti and Brad Davies battled hard in Tuesday night’s eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series All-Star Race at the recently scanned virtual North Wilkesboro Speedway, only to run into difficulties in the late stages of the event. (Watch the full race.)
Being an All-Star event, the format was a bit different, as was the vehicle. The race was contested in NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series machines, and after a qualifying session determined the lineups, two heat races were run to set the starting field.
Conti drove his No. 8 WR1 Sim Chassis Chevrolet Silverado to the last transfer spot in Heat 2 after making a mistake in qualifying, and Davies took his No. 88 TrueTimber® Camo truck to seventh in the same heat after setting the fifth-fastest time in qualifying.
Conti started from the 20th position in the field and just bided his time at the start. The teams were limited to a single set of tires for the event, and had to manage their wear for all 120 laps. Conti was planning to put his one set on during the competition caution at lap 100, and had advanced to seventh place before backing off to save tires for the end.
When the competition caution waved, Conti was among a group of five drivers who were caught a lap down when the field failed to close up to the pace car. That trapped the New Jersey native for the remainder of the race and he finished 17th.
Davies, who came out on the bad side of some position-claiming in the heat, started 15th in the main. AS the laps clicked off, Davies dealt with a loose condition over the first stint while saving as much rubber for the run the finish as possible. When the second caution of the night waved, the leaders came to pit road for tires and Davies elected to stay out. As the race returned to green-flag competition, those with fresher tires were able to get around Davies on the outside. With 16 laps remaining, Davies was behind Christian Challiner and John Gorlinksy when those two collided. Davies was not able to miss the melee and crashed. The damage was such that he could not continue and he finished 21st.
Rookie Graham Bowlin won the race on the last lap when leader Logan Clampitt and second-place Blake Reynolds tangled off Turn 4. Justin Bolton was second, followed by Nick Ottinger, Corey Vincent and Jake Nichols.
Next up for the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series is a June 30 event at the virtual Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Coverage will be shown on eNASCAR.com and twitch.tv/iracing.
Michael Conti, driver No. 8 WR1 Sim Chassis JR Motorsports Chevrolet team
“I had a lot of fun wheeling the No. 8 WR1 Sim Chassis Silverado around North Wilkesboro tonight! It was nice to run a combo that's completely unorthodox to anything else we do in the eNASCAR Coke Series. I was really mad at myself when I screwed up my qualifying lap, and knew it'd be tough to race my way into the Main with such a poor starting spot in the heat. Luckily, we caught a couple good breaks and made it into the main. Battling with Gorlinsky for the final spot was a ton of fun and I can't thank him enough for racing me clean. I knew we'd be at a disadvantage, starting so far in the back. With tire conservation being the name of the game, saving tires, but also trying to make up spots was a no-win situation. I thought we had a shot when we broke into the top 10, but quickly realized I burned up my stuff. Getting trapped a lap down under the caution period was the nail in the coffin, but the result certainly didn't take away from how fun the race was.”
Brad Davies, driver No. 88 TrueTimber® Camo JR Motorsports Chevrolet team
“It was a fun night of racing at the old North Wilkesboro Speedway. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen the place and it certainly made for some good side-by-side racing. The night didn’t go our way but it was nice to get out there and mix it up with those guys without having to worry about points for a change.”