Nick Ottinger tames the Monster, wins at Dover
THE VIRTUAL DOVER, Del. — The wins keep rolling in on the virtual track for William Byron.
Byron conquered Bristol Motor Speedway and Richmond Raceway so far in the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series as a driver, and now he has a win at Dover International Speedway, this time, as an owner.
The victory comes from his eNASCAR driver, Nick Ottinger, driver of the No. 25 Logitech Chevrolet, on his first-year team in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, William Byron eSports.
Ottinger, now in his ninth season competing in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, collected his 15th career victory in the series on Tuesday night, once again tying up with Ryan Luza for second on the all-time winners list.
“That was honestly a workout, just managing your stuff,” Ottinger told Evan Posocco and the rest of the booth post-race on eNASCAR.com/live. “Garrett (Lowe) gave me a run for my money… we both weren’t lifting in that situation, and whoever got out front was probably going to win that race.”
Ottinger held off JR Motorsports’ Brad Davies and Stewart-Haas eSports’ Dylan Duval, as well as the rest of the 37-car field, to claim his first victory in the 2020 season.
The climax of the race came with just under 50 laps remaining. Garrett Lowe, driving for Wood Brothers Racing, looked to the outside of Ottinger, but caught the wall on the corner exit.
Lowe had been running slightly faster than Ottinger for a good portion of the event, but it wasn’t until then they got close to each other. There was no contact between the drivers, but the damage to the No. 21 forced Lowe down into a 16th place finishing position.
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Ray Alfalla put his No. 2 Virtual Racing School Chevy on the top of the charts in practice and qualifying, and took the field to the green on Tuesday night.
On the initial green, the caution flew almost immediately as Chris Shearburn spun his No. 36 LETARTE eSports Chevy up the track, collecting Casey Kirwan’s No. 23 Denny Hamlin Racing Toyota in the process.
Alfalla led the first nine laps, but Ryan Luza moved his No. 53 Williams Esports Ford around him and into the lead at lap 10.
Luza had won the previous three races back-to-back-to-back, and was looking to make Dover a fourth-in-a-row victory. However, with a little over 120 laps to go, Luza caught the wall off the corner, and the slight damage allowed Ottinger to catch and pass the former Series Champion.
Ottinger was a man possessed, as he methodically worked his car around the lapped traffic, keeping Lowe, Luza, and Luza’s Williams Esports teammate, Matt Bussa, at bay for the majority of the mid section of the event.
A second, and final caution with 59 laps remaining shook up the running order slightly, as Ottinger’s William Byron eSports teammate, John Gorlinsky, took a spin out of the second corner after a little help from Richmond Raceway eSports’ Jimmy Mullis.
With the field bunched up for the final time, Garrett Lowe knew his best chance to put his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford up front would be to pass Ottinger as soon as possible following the restart.
Lowe took a look to the outside out of Turn 4, but caught the wall hard, and that was the end of that. The race remained green until the checkers, and Ottinger was victorious over Brad Davies by over 2.5 seconds.
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Give us a show, @NickOttinger! 🚗💨@WBeSports_ | @MonsterMile pic.twitter.com/PHGQ9wsZQC
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 29, 2020
Only two cautions total for eight laps, but there were 14 lead changes among 10 drivers, mostly coming during green flag pit stops throughout the race.
Ottinger led the most laps on the night, 105 laps total out of 200 completed.
There is a new point leader in town, and his name is Ryan Luza. Luza takes the top spot from Bobby Zalenski after the No. 83 struggled to finish a dismal 32nd place. Luza recovered from his damage to take home a fourth place.
Luza leads by 13 points over Zalenski heading into the seventh race of the season in two weeks at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Keegan Leahy, Nick Ottinger, Garrett Lowe, Michael Conti, Brad Davies, and rookie Graham Bowlin currently occupy the remaining Top 8 points positions.
SOURCES:
iRacing
eNASCAR
DOVER 200 RACE RESULTS:
- 25 – Nick Ottinger – Williams Byron eSports
- 88 – Brad Davies – JR Motorsports
- 41 – Dylan Duval – Stewart-Haas eSports
- 53 – Ryan Michael Luza – Williams eSports
- 32 – Keegan Leahy – Denny Hamlin Racing
- 8 – Michael Conti – JR Motorsports
- 9 – Eric J. Smith – Jim Beaver eSports
- 18 – Graham A. Bowlin – Joe Gibbs Racing
- 42 – Bob Bryant – Bryant Sheehan eSports
- 1 – Steve Sheehan – Bryant Sheehan eSports
- 3 – Blake Reynolds – Team Dillon eSports
- 37 – Christian Challiner – JTG Daugherty Racing
- 66 – Jarl Teien – G2 eSports
- 97 – John Gorlinsky – William Byron eSports
- 51 – Malik Ray – Joe Gibbs Racing
- 21 – Garrett Lowe – Wood Brothers Racing
- 33 – Michael Guest – Team Dillon eSports
- 36 – Chris Shearburn – Letarte eSports
- 6 – Nathan Lyon – Roush Fenway Racing
- 77 – Ashton Crowder – Burton Kligerman eSports
- 54 – Alex McCollum – G2 eSports
- 75 – Phillip Diaz – Mode Motorsports
- 10 – Justin Bolton – Stewart-Haas eSports
- 24 – Jake Nichols – Mode Motorsports
- 2 – Ray Alfalla – Virtual Racing School
- 5 – Matt Bussa – Williams eSports
- 15 – Michael Guariglia – Jim Beaver eSports
- 90 – Zack Novak – Richmond Raceway eSports
- 99 – Logan Clampitt – Burton Kligerman eSports
- 16 – Chris Overland – Wood Brothers Racing
- 4 – Santiago Tirres – Letarte eSports
- 83 – Bobby Zalenski – Virtual Racing School
- 27 – Corey Vincent – Renegades
- 79 – Brian Schoenburg – Clint Bowyer Racing
- 23 – Casey Kirwan – Denny Hamlin Racing
- 46 – Jimmy Mullis – Richmond Raceway eSports
- 55 – Caine Cook – Renegades
DID NOT RACE:
14 – Brandon Hayse Kettelle – Clint Bowyer Racing
17 – Kollin Keister – Roush Fenway Racing
47 – Jeremy R Allen – JTG Daugherty Racing
Check out the TReSports Photo Gallery from Race #6 at Dover International Speedway! All Photos by Justin Melillo via iRacing.com.
