Conti Third, Davies Sixth in New Hampshire eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Duel

Ron Lemasters | 7/14/2021

Axe Brad Davies eNASCAR iRacing Michael Conti News WR1 Sim Chassis

The two-car JR Motorsports team of Michael Conti and Brad Davies raced at the front all night long in Tuesday's event at virtual Loudon.

Track Specs: 1.058-mile oval / 152 laps
Conti's finish: 3rd  
Davies' finish: 6th  
Team Standings: 9th (-142)

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (July 14, 2021) - The two-car JR Motorsports team of Michael Conti and Brad Davies raced at the front all night long in Tuesday's eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series event at the virtual New Hampshire Motor Speedway. When the checkered flag waved over the 11th race of the season, Conti was a strong third and Davies a stellar sixth. (Watch the full race.)

The performance also gained some important ground for the two-car team, as the finishes boosted JRM back to ninth in the team points, 142 off the lead. That's a rise of two positions from the race prior and could signal the start of a drive toward the $100,000 winner's prize.

Conti drove his No. 8 WR1 Sim Chassis Chevrolet third and didn't fall much farther back all night long. Battling with Keegan Leahy and Chris Shearburn, Conti bided his time before taking over the top spot, only to have the caution wave immediately after. Conti locked into a battle with Vicente Salas for several laps before getting past, only to lose the lead to eventual winner Jimmy Mullis after battling with cars on older tires.

Once Mullis was in the lead, Conti figured out that the two cars were roughly equal, and despite a spirited effort, he was unable to reassume the top spot over the remaining distance. Mullis (54) and Conti (24) combined to lead 78 of the 152 laps on the night.

Conti lost second to rookie Jake Nichols and brought his No. 8 WR1 Sim Chassis Chevrolet home in third. Conti is sixth in the playoff standings and seventh overall, 31 points out of the lead with three races remaining until the playoffs are set to begin.

Davies qualified his No. 88 AXE Chevrolet 19th for the 152-lap event on the flat, virtual 1.058-mile oval, never getting a good feel for what he had for the race. As the race got under way, Davies dealt with a tight-handling Camaro and stayed in the middle of the pack for the early stages. As the cautions started to come—there would be eight of them for 32 laps on the night—crew chief Derek Wood was able to adjust that tightness out of Davies' machine.

Those changes took good effect past the halfway point, as Davies found he could run the bottom lane—and lower--very well. That was key because most of the rest of the field was running one lane up and toward the middle. Davies stayed on the inside line in 13th place until a caution flag waved with about 30 laps remaining. Wood called his driver to pit road and changed right-side tires, which got Davies back on track in the top five. While the move wasn’t going to win Davies the race, it did allow him the track position to earn a sorely-needed top-10 finish.

Over the remaining laps, Davies was able to work the cautions well enough to cross under the checkered flag in sixth position.

Davies' run to sixth was good in another way, as it boosted him to 27th in series points after 12 races. Sitting 121 points out of the lead, Davies is now just 32 points adrift of 20th in the standings, which is where he needs to be to hold his place in the eNCCiRS next season without having to re-qualify for 2022.

Mullis won the race, his third straight on the digital Magic Mile, holding off Nichols, Conti, Zack Novak and Graham Bowlin. Davies led the second five, with Ray Alfalla—the odd man out in the playoff standings now that there are more winners (11) than playoff spots—Michael Guest, Corey Vincent and Mitchell DeJong the remainder of the top 10.

The next points race for the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series will be Aug. 3 at the virtual Watkins Glen International road course.

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

"Super proud of the run we put together tonight! Our No. 8 WR1 Sim Chassis Chevy was fast all night and allowed us to keep our track position and battle for the win. I had a ton of fun racing with the guys up front and felt confident with what I was able to do. Our team always has a tendency to fall off a bit during the middle of the regular season, but just as we’ve done the last several years, we’re heating up as the playoffs approach. Looking forward to getting to Watkins Glen and continuing the positive momentum we’ve built over the last few races!"

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

"My hat's off to Derek (Wood, crew chief) tonight. We started out a bit too snug and couldn't really make any headway at the start so he stepped up and made some awesome changes to the car on pit road and also made the call of the night to take two tires at the end which put us in position for a better finish than we might have otherwise had.  The AXE Chevy Camaro was fast today and we managed to stay out of trouble for a change. This is a huge boost of a confidence for us and gives us an opportunity to make a push to get back in the top 20 in points as we head towards the final six races. Next (points) race is at Watkins Glen which is one of my all-time favorite road courses, so we'll definitely be looking forward to that."

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