Conti 18th, King 22nd in Wild eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series Action at Atlanta

Ron Lemasters | 3/15/2023

News

In a hectic race with a few overtimes, Conti finished 18th and King came home in 22nd.

Track Specs: 1.54-mile quad oval / 100 laps

Conti's finish: 18th            

King's finish: 22nd   

Team Standings: 7th (-34)

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (March 15, 2023) -- Michael Conti battled hard in the waning laps of Tuesday night's eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series event at the virtual Atlanta Motor Speedway, driving his No. 8 WR1 Sim Chassis Chevrolet to an 18th-place finish in the third race of the eNCCiRS season. JR Motorsports teammate Kevin King drove his No. 88 Ledford Billiard Supply Camaro to a 22nd-place result on the racy surface, bogged by jam-packed traffic in all three lanes. (Watch the full race.)

A well-timed gust of wind helped Conti take his No. 8 WR1 Sim Chassis Camaro to P7 on the starting grid, which fit the Milwaukee winner's strategy for the race. That strategy was to make it to the end through the chaos the new superspeedway-like layout at Atlanta usually provides.

Conti played it safe through the first two stages to have a chance at the end, and with the nature of the racing, he had to work for every spot. Near the end of the race, when the race pace ratcheted up, Conti made several saves and more than once had to dive to the apron to avoid wrecks ahead of him.

In the final scramble that included a pair of green-white-checkered restarts, Conti battled through to finish 18th.

King, in his first season back in the top-level iRacing series, posted a solid 12th-place effort in qualifying and was gratified to be starting in the top six rows at a superspeedway-like track. On the start, the veteran driver kept the Ledford Billiard Supply Chevrolet in the top 20, sorting out his handling and staying out of trouble.

Eventually, the handling started to go away and King was left with a double-handful of steering wheel. Trying to take advantage of the multiple runs each lap, King found himself mired in thick traffic and was shuffled back in the order.

Several caution periods didn't help, and King spent much of his time avoiding spinning cars. Eventually, his luck ran out and he caught part of one, doing a little damage to the No. 88 Ledford Billiard Supply Chevy. The car still had speed, but the traffic situation got even more congested, and King rallied to finish 22nd on the day with a relatively clean Camaro.

Steven Wilson won the wild event, which employed two of the three green-white-checkered restarts available at the end. Kollin Keister was second, with Michael Guest, Michael Cosey Jr. and Graham Bowlin the rest of the top five.

Conti remains third in series points, nine points off the lead, and King maintained 26th, 52 markers off the top spot after three races. As a team, JR Motorsports is seventh in the standings, 34 points behind the top spot.

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series will return to the track on March 28 at the virtual Richmond Raceway.

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

"Plate racing is definitely not my forte and I'll be the first to admit that. With that being said, we always seem to find a way to get our No. 8 WR1 Sim Chassis Camaro in a position to get a solid finish by the end of these types of races. Tonight's race was no different. I'm not sure what I did to deserve the Golden Horseshoe, but I'm thankful it was riding onboard with me; I'm still not sure how we got through every wreck unscathed when they all seemed to break out right around us. I'm looking forward to getting back to short-track racing at Richmond in two weeks' time. Between our strong run at Milwaukee and my success at Richmond in the past, I have nothing but optimism heading into that race!"

Kevin King, driver No. 88 Ledford Billiard Supply Chevrolet team

"We had a fast car, but it was just a parking lot out there. Trying to make some passes proved pretty difficult, but we did have a good car capable of making moves after we made some adjustments. I managed to make something out of a very weird race and still get some decent points, but fell a bit short of the goal I set out to achieve. Proud of our group that continues to bring good cars every race, and I'm looking forward to Richmond."

 

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