Track Specs: 2.2-mile street course / 40 laps
Conti's finish: 2nd
King's finish: 13th
Team Standings: 3rd (-79)
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (June 28, 2023) - Michael Conti's final season in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series kept rolling on Tuesday night with a ninth-place finish on the tricky virtual street course in downtown Chicago, while Kevin King recovered from an early incident to log a 21st-place finish and make a move in the series point standings. (Watch the full race.)
Conti, the points leader entering the race by a healthy margin, qualified 10th for the event and was focused on reaching the finish line after last year's performance on the circuit. After making it unscathed through the first few corners he rose to ninth in the order before surrendering the position.
Around lap 25, several cars elected to come to pit road and Conti followed as soon as possible to cover the undercut, nailing both the in- and out-laps to gain a position to ninth. Hooking up with Graham Bowlin in a battle for ninth, Conti held the WR1 Sim Chassis ahead of his rival to the checkered flag for a ninth-place finish.
King, not known as a road racer, was focused on learning the course and getting through Turn 1 when the green flag waved in earnest. Starting 21st, Turn 1 came a cropper for the Californian as another car clobbered his Ledford Billiard Supply Chevrolet and fell back to 29th.
The damage was significant, but King put his head down and focused on driving a solid, hard pace in an effort to get as much as he could. Despite the damage adding nearly a half-second to his lap times, King moved forward and concentrated on picking up positions wherever he could.
His goal was to finish in the top 20, and he nearly made it with a 21st-place result, which did good things for him and the Ledford Billiard Supply Chevrolet in terms of the cut-line for series points. King shaved another seven markers off his deficit to the 20th position, now trailing by just 19. The top 20 drivers are automatically qualified for next year's eNCCiRS.
Conti maintained his advantage at the top of the eNCCiRS point standings over Jordy Lopez, topping the ranks by 38 points. King remained 24th, but significantly closer than he was after the last race.
In the team standings, JRM held third place in the overall count and trailing the leaders by 79 markers.
The JR Motorsports duo and the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series will return to the track on July 11 at the virtual Nashville Superspeedway.
Michael Conti, driver No. 8 WR1 Sim Chassis JR Motorsports Chevrolet team
"I fully expected to run into something tonight based on how my outing here last year went, but was pleasantly surprised to have proved myself wrong. The WR1 Sim Chassis Camaro was probably more capable than the driver tonight, since we were all on the same setup and I didn't win, but I'll gladly take ninth and minimal points lost to second in the regular-season standings. These guys are going to have their hands full this weekend. I hope they put a lot of time in on the sim because this track will be like nothing they've ever encountered before. With that said, I am looking forward to returning to normalcy at Nashville in two weeks!"
Kevin King, driver No. 88 Ledford Billiard Supply Chevrolet team
"Salvaged what could have been a tough day in the Ledford Billiard Supply Camaro. The track is very technical and even if you were faster on pace, passing someone was incredibly difficult. We suffered some damage early, but kept chugging along and just continued to push and pulled out a decent finish. Not the best road-course guy so just happy to come out with some good points."