Track Specs: 2-mile oval / 45 laps
Dohar’s finish (XBox): 3rd
Gornick’s finish (PS4): 12th
XBox Point Standings: Dohar 3rd (-10)
PS4 Point Standings: Gornick 11th (-33)
Team Point Standings: JRM 13th (-185)
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (July 9, 2020) – Tyler Dohar earned his second straight third-place finish in Wednesday’s eNASCAR Heat Pro League event at the virtual Auto Club Speedway, while Joe Gornick (PS4) battled through some on-track shenanigans in the late going to earn a 12th-place result.
The PS4 teams led off the evening schedule with their 45-lap event, and Gornick took off from 10th place on the initial green. As the race played out, Gornick dealt with a sticky brake pedal for much of the event, running the low line around the fast 2-mile oval. The Pennsylvania driver was in position for a solid top-five finish in the closing laps before a late-race altercation ended those hopes.
Gornick had his BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet in fifth spot with eight laps remaining when the caution waved for a crash in Turn 2. After pitting, Gornick lined up seventh for the restart with fresh tires and a clear path to the front. Two cars stayed out, so he took off from seventh for the final restart. As the field boiled around him, Gornick was seventh on the high line coming off Turn 2 with three laps remaining when another car slammed into the left-side door of Gornick’s machine and bounced him into the wall. That put Gornick at the tail with little time to recover. He passed one car in the remaining laps to finish 12th.
Josh Parker won the event, with Nick Jobes, Joey Stone, TJ McGowan and Corey Rothgeb rounding out the top five.
In the XBox nightcap, Dohar had his No. 88 Good Humor Chevrolet in the eighth spot for the start of the 45-lap event, but fell back outside the top 10 for the initial flurry. As in the PS4 race, business picked up the later the race went, and Dohar was able to move forward toward the end.
The caution came out with five laps remaining with a huge crash on the back straightaway. Dohar, running 10th, managed to get away with no damage. Earlier in the season at Atlanta, Dohar pitted in the same situation, but stayed out this time and restarted the race in fourth, on the preferred inside line. On the restart, Dohar tucked in behind Sam Morris and Slade Gravitt and set up for the final lap. Coming to the checkered flag, Dohar pushed Gravitt into a shot at the lead, and got to the low line for the run to the finish line, but came up just .31 seconds short at the flag to finish third. It was his second straight third-place finish and fifth in the top five in the season’s 10 races.
In the series point standings, Dohar is third in the XBox ranks, 10 off the leader, and Gornick fell one spot to 11th, 33 out of the top spot among PS4 drivers.
The eNASCAR Heat Pro League returns to action on July 16 (Thursday) on the virtual 4.048-mile road course at Road America in NASCAR Xfinity Series machines.
Tyler Dohar, XBox driver No. 88 Good Humor Chevrolet team
Joe Gornick, PS4 driver No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet team