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Nick Ottinger tames the Monster, wins at Dover

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Nick Ottinger celebrates victory at the virtual Dover International Speedway on April 28th, 2020. Photo by Justin Melillo / TRE via iRacing.com.

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.

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Nick Ottinger leads at the virtual Dover International Speedway on April 28th, 2020. Photo by Justin Melillo / TRE via iRacing.com.

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.

***

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.

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Chris Shearburn (36) spins and collects Casey Kirwan (23) on an incident on Lap 1 at the virtual Dover International Speedway on April 28th, 2020. Photo by Justin Melillo / TRE via iRacing.com.

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.

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John Gorlinsky sits in the middle of the track after spinning at the virtual Dover International Speedway on April 28th, 2020. Photo by Justin Melillo / TRE via iRacing.com.

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.

***

 

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:

  1. 25 – Nick Ottinger – Williams Byron eSports
  2. 88 – Brad Davies – JR Motorsports
  3. 41 – Dylan Duval – Stewart-Haas eSports
  4. 53 – Ryan Michael Luza – Williams eSports
  5. 32 – Keegan Leahy – Denny Hamlin Racing
  6. 8 – Michael Conti – JR Motorsports
  7. 9 – Eric J. Smith – Jim Beaver eSports
  8. 18 – Graham A. Bowlin – Joe Gibbs Racing
  9. 42 – Bob Bryant – Bryant Sheehan eSports
  10. 1 – Steve Sheehan – Bryant Sheehan eSports
  11. 3 – Blake Reynolds – Team Dillon eSports
  12. 37 – Christian Challiner – JTG Daugherty Racing
  13. 66 – Jarl Teien – G2 eSports
  14. 97 – John Gorlinsky – William Byron eSports
  15. 51 – Malik Ray – Joe Gibbs Racing
  16. 21 – Garrett Lowe – Wood Brothers Racing
  17. 33 – Michael Guest – Team Dillon eSports
  18. 36 – Chris Shearburn – Letarte eSports
  19. 6 – Nathan Lyon – Roush Fenway Racing
  20. 77 – Ashton Crowder – Burton Kligerman eSports
  21. 54 – Alex McCollum – G2 eSports
  22. 75 – Phillip Diaz – Mode Motorsports
  23. 10 – Justin Bolton – Stewart-Haas eSports
  24. 24 – Jake Nichols – Mode Motorsports
  25. 2 – Ray Alfalla – Virtual Racing School
  26. 5 – Matt Bussa – Williams eSports
  27. 15 – Michael Guariglia – Jim Beaver eSports
  28. 90 – Zack Novak – Richmond Raceway eSports
  29. 99 – Logan Clampitt – Burton Kligerman eSports
  30. 16 – Chris Overland – Wood Brothers Racing
  31. 4 – Santiago Tirres – Letarte eSports
  32. 83 – Bobby Zalenski – Virtual Racing School
  33. 27 – Corey Vincent – Renegades
  34. 79 – Brian Schoenburg – Clint Bowyer Racing
  35. 23 – Casey Kirwan – Denny Hamlin Racing
  36. 46 – Jimmy Mullis – Richmond Raceway eSports
  37. 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.

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Justin Melillo View All

Columnist / Reporter / Photographer / Webmaster for TheRacingExperts.com

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