Track Specs: .875-mile oval / 70 laps
Dohar’s finish (XBox): 6th
Gornick’s finish (PS4): 12th
XBox Point Standings: Dohar 8th (-38)
PS4 Point Standings: Gornick 13th (-31)
Team Point Standings: JRM 14th (-151)
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (June 19, 2020) – Tyler Dohar drove his No. 88 Good Humor Chevrolet to a sixth-place finish in the XBox portion of Thursday night’s eNASCAR Heat Pro League contest at the virtual Iowa Speedway, and Joe Gornick fought damage and a balky wheel in his No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet in the PS4 main, finishing 12th. The race took place in NASCAR Xfinity Series machines.
Dohar, who spun on his qualifying lap, started 10th in the 70-lap main for the XBox racers. The Ohio driver worked his way up as the laps clicked away, seemingly en route to a potential top-three finish had the race gone without a caution flag. Unfortunately, the yellow waved with 23 laps remaining and that put an end to his strategy play. Pitting from fourth, Dohar rejoined the event with a chance to move forward, and he did, advancing to third at the drop of the flag. He held sway in third for the next 10 laps before Sam Morris worked his way around for the spot. Dohar’s Good Humor Chevrolet lacked a bit on the short run, as he dropped to seventh with eight laps to go. At that point the yellow flag waved again, and he pitted with the field.
Over the final four laps, Dohar battled with Jose Ruiz for the seventh spot and eventually worked his way to sixth with two laps remaining and held it to the finish. Justin Brooks won the race, with Daniel Buttafuoco a strong second. Brian Tedeschi, Morris and Matthew Heale comprised the top five.
In the PS4 feature, Gornick started 11th and immediately gained two positions on the first lap when two cars tangled off Turn 2. Gornick’s wheel was giving him problems, dropping him to 14th a few laps following the restart. Once he got it reset, he began to move farther forward.
With 54 laps remaining, Gornick got a break when a grinding crash took place just ahead of him and he was able to advance five spots to ninth. Following pit stops, Gornick was eighth when the green flag waved again. As the field exited Turn 2, one of the leaders had a connection issue and triggered a tangle that scattered the field. Gornick was unable to miss one of the spinning cars and took considerable front-end damage. That would affect the rest of his race.
Over the remaining laps, Gornick raced hard and got back up to eighth with less than 20 laps to go, but eventually finished 12th after Maxwell Castro slipped up off the bottom and pounded Gornick’s car against the fence off Turn 4. Cody Giles won the event, with Brandyn Gritton, Joey Stone, Mike Braas and Josh Harbin making up the top five.
Dohar is eighth among the XBox drivers in points, while Gornick is a hard-luck 13th in the PS4 standings.
The eNASCAR Heat Pro League returns to action on June 25 (Thursday) at the virtual Atlanta Motor Speedway. It will be the final race of Segment Two for the series, which means another driver will be locked into the championship race at night’s end.
Tyler Dohar, XBox driver No. 88 Good Humor Chevrolet team
Joe Gornick, PS4 driver No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet team