Track Specs: 1.5-mile oval / 134 laps
Conti’s finish: 10th
Davies’ finish: 32nd
MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Feb. 24, 2021) – Just two weeks after tasting victory in the season-opening eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series event at the virtual Daytona International Speedway, the two-car JR Motorsports team of Michael Conti and Brad Davies faced a much more difficult ride on the virtual pavement at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Tuesday night.
Conti, the winner at Daytona, came from deep in the field without the aid of a caution flag to finish 10th in his No. 8 WR1 Sim Chassis Chevrolet Camaro, while Davies had to overcome the loss of his crew chief to a connection issue and an unfortunate trip into the wall with his No. 88 AXE Chevrolet at the end of pit road early on and finished 32nd. (Watch the full race.)
Conti spent the two-week gap between races working on race setup in his No. 8 WR1 Sim Chassis Chevrolet, and despite posting a time that was just a tick off the pole speed, ended up starting 29th in the field for the 134-lap event.
The solo run that saw him deep in the field notwithstanding, the race pace for Conti was strong. Despite passing being at somewhat of a premium, Conti moved into the top 20 in short order, blazing his way to 13th by the end of the first stint. The race went caution-free the entire distance, so there was not a lot of opportunity to use strategy to move up.
Running in a pack that contained a few cars slower than him, Conti hit pit road for the final time a couple of laps earlier than his rivals and got past, rising as far as eighth in the order. Over the remaining distance, Conti settled in the top 10 and finished 10th at the checkered. The finish allowed the New Jersey driver to hang onto his lead in the series point standings.
Davies faced a similar difficulty in qualifying and started 32nd, just a tenth and a half off the pole time. As the race began, the Florida native was alone in terms of strategy, as crew chief Derek Wood was unable to connect to the iRacing feed for the race.
That meant that not only did Davies have to drive the race, he had to formulate strategy and make adjustments during pit stops all by himself. That led to an unfortunate end to his hopes just 44 laps into the event.
Driving into the top 20 over the first fuel run, Davies was battling in the pack on lap 44 when he came to pit road. The entry at Homestead is tricky in any event, and Davies adjusted his brake bias to help him get off the banking and into position. Unfortunately, the bias was a little too far to the rear, which kicked out the rear end of his Camaro. Controlling the slide, Davies nonetheless clipped the attenuator at the end of pit road, doing damage to his AXE-backed Chevrolet.
The resulting damage—and the lack of a caution flag to affect repairs—doomed the remainder of Davies’ run, and he finished 32nd on the night, the first car one lap down.
Keegan Leahy led 105 of the 134 laps to earn the victory and punch his ticket to the playoffs. Ryan Luza was second, followed by Chris Shearburn, Garrett Lowe and Taylor Hurst.
The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series will compete again on Tuesday (March 2) at the virtual Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Michael Conti, driver No. 8 WR1 Sim Chassis JR Motorsports Chevrolet team
“We got off on the wrong foot tonight with a not-so-great qualifying run, but I'm proud of our execution and the fight we exhibited throughout the course of the race. Passing was next to impossible, but we still found a way to make up 19 spots and grab another top-10 finish. Clearly, we have some work to do to get our WR1 Chevrolet some better starting spots, but our race pace is something to smile about. We'll head to Las Vegas next Tuesday and look to step it up a notch over what we accomplished tonight.”
Brad Davies, driver No. 88 AXE JR Motorsports Chevrolet team
“I feel terrible for JRM and AXE, which is new on board with us this year. The No. 88 AXE Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 really was running well and making gains up through the field. I felt like we were one of only a few cars that could actually make passes tonight considering all the dirty air but not having a crew chief on board threw us for a loop. I was having to make a lot of adjustments at the last minute before pit stops and unknowingly made the wrong one at the wrong time. I should have tried to get those adjustments ready well before pit stops but sometimes you don’t know what the car needs until you’ve been through the entire fuel/tire run. Tonight I waited too long and tried to adjust too many things too quickly and it bit us. The good thing is that we will be able to put this result behind us quickly as we race Las Vegas next week. We’ll be looking forward to rebounding there.”