Keegan Leahy finds victory lane at Charlotte Motor Speedway

In the longest race of the 2019 campaign, Keegan Leahy endured to find victory lane for the first time at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Utilizing the newest version of iRacing’s Charlotte Motor Speedway, Leahy fought through the day to night transition to claim the victory over Blake Reynolds, Chris Shearburn, Ryan Michael Luza, and Logan Clampitt.

“The car was super strong, that carried me to that victory for sure,” Leahy told RaceSpot TV post race. “I was happy with everything I did on track, I don’t think I made too many mistakes there, but pit road was killing me.

“The biggest thing, really, was the balance. We just got the balance just right for the draft. I was able to hold my position and then just, like, blow by people after a few laps when everyone else seemed to get tight.”

***

Chris Shearburn led the field to the start of the 200 lap event, with Leahy alongside.

Shearburn was the class of the field for the first half of the event, leading 106 of the first 110 laps before yielding to Bobby Zalenski in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Zalenski soon lent the lead to last week’s winner, Zach Novak, and not too long after, the pair of drivers began experiencing network connection issues.

While battling for the lead, Zalenski’s connection dropped, and after taking the lead, Novak was black-flagged for his poor connection. The network issues relegated the two hopefuls to 30-something place finishes.

While that was happening, series points leader Ryan Michael Luza made his way up to the front, and took the lead at lap 147.

Luza didn’t hold the lead for long, as Leahy, who had experienced a handful of pit road issues all night, worked back around to the lead at lap 168.

On the final stint of the long event, Leahy pulled out to over a second an a half lead over Luza. In the closing laps, it was Blake Reynolds chasing Leahy down.

Reynolds was able to bring it within a second, but as the laps ran out, it was Leahy celebrating his fourth career victory, and first on the 2019 season.

***

Luza continues to lead the standings by 34 points over Leahy. Reynolds moves up and into third, while Garrett Lowe and Novak round out the Top 5.

Defending series champion, Ray Alfalla, had made his way into the Top 5, but misfortune struck again as he was tagged by Casey Kirwin, sending the famed No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford into the inside SAFER barrier.

Another uncharacteristic finish now places Alfalla outside of the Top 20 in the standings, in 21st. Only the Top 20 are guaranteed a place in the 2020 eNASCAR Peak Antifreeze iRacing Series.

Six races remain before the Top 8 is set for the 2019 Playoffs. The series takes an extra week off and returns three weeks from now for the first road course of the season, the long course at Sonoma Raceway.

Keegan Leahy gets it done at Charlotte Motor Speedway and brings home the 🏁 for the @G2simracing team! #G2WIN

Leahy finds his first win of the eNASCAR PEAK Antifreeze iRacing Series and is the 11th different driver to win at Charlotte in the 11 races run there. pic.twitter.com/fLcFkSeu91

— iRacing.com (@iRacing) May 22, 2019

 

RACE RESULTS:

1. 62 – Keegan Leahy – G2 eSports
2. 30 – Blake Reynolds – Team Dillon eSports
3. 36 – Chris Shearburn – Letarte eSports
4. 53 – Ryan Michael Luza – FlipSid3 Tactics
5. 99 – Logan Clampitt – Burton Kligerman eSports
6. 28 – Garrett Lowe – Renegades
7. 17 – Michael Guest – Roush Fenway Racing
8. 83 – Adam Benefiel – Independent
9. 3 – Michael Guariglia – Independent
10. 14 – Casey Kirwan – Clint Bowyer Racing
11. 37 – Christian Challiner – JTG Daugherty Racing
12. 88 – Brad Davies – JR Motorsports
13. 7 – Ryan Lowe – Independent
14. 2 – Caine Cook – Independent
15. 42 – Dylan Duval – Independent
16. 74 – Taylor Hurst – Independent
17. 80 – Brandon Hayse Kettelle – Independent
18. 77 – Ashton Crowder – Burton Kligerman eSports
19. 24 – Cody Byus – Mode Motorsports
20. 79 – Nickolas Shelton – Clint Bowyer Racing
21. 20 – Jake Nichols – Joe Gibbs Racing
22. 55 – Brian Schoenburg – Williams eSports
23. 33 – Benjamin W. Nelson – Team Dillon eSports
24. 8 – Michael Conti – JR Motorsports
25. 66 – Jarl Teien – G2 eSports
26. 16 – Chris Overland – Wood Brothers Racing
27. 63 – Timmy Hill – FlipSid3 Tactics
28. 46 – Jimmy Mullis – Richmond Raceway eSports
29. 75 – Philip Diaz – Mode Motorsports
30. 5 – Matt Bussa – Williams eSports
31. 90 – Malik Ray – Richmond Raceway eSports
32. 27 – Corey Vincent – Renegades
33. 6 – Zack Novak – Roush Fenway Racing
34. 21 – Ray Alfalla – Wood Brothers Racing
35. 31 – Logan Kress – Independent
36. 47 – Nick Ottinger – JTG Daugherty Racing
37. 18 – Bobby Zalenski – Joe Gibbs Racing
38. 4 – Nathan Lyon – Letarte eSports
39. 19 – Casey Tucker – Independent

Did Not Race: 51 – Eric J. Smith – Independent

SOURCES
RaceSpot TV
iRacing.com
Twitter