Conti 7th, Davies 24th in Wild Kansas eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Rumble

Ron Lemasters | 4/28/2021

Axe Brad Davies eNASCAR iRacing Michael Conti News Race Report WR1 Sim Chassis

Conti picked up a top-10 finish, while Davies battled back from an early pit-road speeding penalty at the virtual Kansas Speedway.

Track Specs: 1.5-mile oval / 134 laps
Conti’s finish: 7th
Davies’ finish: 24th  
Team Standings: 7th (-75)

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (April 28, 2021) – A wild eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series race at the virtual Kansas Speedway saw JR Motorsports drivers Michael Conti and Brad Davies experience varying degrees of success on the 1.5-mile Midwest oval. Conti finished seventh in the No. 8 WR1 Sim Chassis Chevrolet, battling dirty air and traffic, while teammate Brad Davies had to overcome an early pit-road speeding penalty to finish 24th in his No. 88 AXE Chevrolet. (Watch the full race.)

Starting 17th, Conti was mired in traffic for most of the first half of the event and the turbulence made it difficult to finish off passes. A caution with 60 laps to go enabled the young New Jersey driver to get on pit road and make some handling changes.

Back at speed, Conti was able to avoid a 20-car pileup that started among the top five and gained 13 places in the aftermath. Restarting 10th with 50 laps remaining, Conti got past three rivals to log a seventh-place result.

Davies qualified his AXE Chevrolet 16th on the day, and before the race began, the Florida driver made some adjustments to counter a higher-than-expected track temperature. The hotter weather also loosened the car up handling-wise, and running in the pack also caused the engine temperature to soar.

Dropping back in the field to get some air on the nose and cool off, Davies ran to the first pit stop mid-pack. Coming to pit road early at lap 35, Davies was looking for all he could get and locked up the left front tire on entry, which meant he entered too fast. The penalty was a 30-second hold in the pits, and that put him a lap down. On the extended stop, crew chief Derek Wood called for four tires, fuel and the removal of some tape from the grille to help his handling.

The changes worked, and Davies was able to make time from there. The late caution for the big crash earned Davies the free pass and he was able to push up to 24th by the time the checkered flag waved.

Series veteran Chris Shearburn won the race, leading 70 laps and earning a playoff berth as well as becoming the seventh winner in as many starts this season. Keegan Leahy was second, with Isaac Gann, Logan Clampitt and Graham Bowlin the rest of the top five. Michael Guest was sixth ahead of Conti, Blake Reynolds, Dylan Duval and Nathan Lyon.

The two-car JRM team used the finishes to rise two spots to seventh in the team standings, 75 off the lead.

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series will compete again on May 18 at the virtual Circuit of the Americas, the first road-course race of the season and the first for NASCAR cars as well on the Texas layout.

Michael Conti, driver No. 8 WR1 Sim Chassis JR Motorsports Chevrolet team

“Tough, tough night for our No. 8 WR1 Chevy. Things were really looking grim until the first caution of the race came out with 60 to go. With how pronounced dirty air is these days, we struggled to make up any ground on the race’s first two runs, so getting an opportunity to pit, work on the car, and bunch up the field was very much welcomed. Luckily, we dodged the big crash on the restart and picked off some more spots on the final run to grab a solid top 10. I felt like my pace was strong toward the end, so that gives me some hope. More work still needs to be done to find some extra pace, but we’re chipping away at it.”

Brad Davies, driver No. 88 AXE JR Motorsports Chevrolet team

“It wasn’t a great day in the points but not a terrible one either. It could have been a lot worse. However, I am pretty upset with myself for the speeding penalty because after a couple of adjustments we definitely had top-10 speed. Derek (Wood) made the right calls but I goofed on pit road and it cost us. Our pace in the No. 88 AXE Chevy Camaro was there today for a good run, I just have to stay away from the little mistakes and I think we’ll be in good shape. Our next race is at Circuit of the Americas. The track was originally built for F1-style open-wheel cars and I’ve never driven there myself but we’ll be bringing our 3,400-pound tanks to the track in a couple of weeks so I can’t even imagine what that race will be like.”

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