Nick Ottinger wins thriller in four wide finish at Talladega

The second-most winningest driver in the eNASCAR Peak Antifreeze iRacing Series collected another victory on Tuesday night at Talladega Superspeedway.

Nick Ottinger, on a last straightaway move around Brad Davies, held off Ryan Michael Luza and Garrett Lowe in a four wide dash to the line to win his first victory of the 2019 eNPAiS season, and the 14th of his career.

“I can’t lie, but that was pretty intense racing,” Ottinger told RaceSpot TV post race. “I had a plan with Brad [Davies] on the last restart to just push him to the end. He knew if I had the chance to peak to the outside, I would, but I went a little earlier than I wanted to, but luckily I had a push from the 53 [Ryan Michael Luza] to help with it.

“I was on the verge of pretty much blowing the engine up, that’s how much I was pushing, pushing water and everything.”

***

Bobby Zalenski started on the pole with Chris Overland alongside. For the first third of the race, Zalenski, Overland, Jake Nichols, and Eric J. Smith fought lap after lap for the lead, going up until lap 16 without a consecutive green flag leader.

On lap 24, Michael Guest, driving the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, blew a motor while racing in the Top 5. The field was able to navigate around and the race continued racing under green flag conditions.

After green flag pit stops, a new group of challengers found themselves battling for the lead. Logan Clampitt, Michael Conti, Keegan Leahy, and Luza found themselves battling lap after lap for the top spot.

By halfway on the completion of lap 47, the race had already seen 31 lead changes.

The caution flew just after halfway on lap 49, when the leaders of Smith and Leahy made contact. Overall, the damage was minimal to the many cars involved, and the race resumed on lap 54 with Clampitt back on the point.

This portion of the race saw another group of regulars enter the mix, with Ray Alfalla and Ottinger going back and forth for multiple laps before the final set of pit stops.

After the final set of pit stops, Luza and Davies found themselves battling for the lead before the final caution of the day set up a three lap dash to the finish.

On the restart, Davies was able to hold the lead over Luza with multiple pushes from Ottinger.

Coming off of Turn 4 for the final time, Ottinger made his move to the outside of Davies. Luza found a lane in between Ottinger and Davies, while Lowe went low on Davies, making contact in the process.

Ottinger had just enough to get him back to the line first.

***

Officially, the race saw 52 lead changes during the 94 lap event.Chris Overland led the most laps at 18.

There were three cautions that slowed the field for 11 laps.

With his second place finish, Luza opens up his point lead to 48 points over Leahy, with Jimmy Mullis now residing in third.

The series returns in two weeks on May 7th for the seventh round at Kansas Speedway.

“FOUR WIDE AT THE STRIPE!” 🏁

Relive the wild finish from tonight’s PEAK @iRacing Series race at @TalladegaSuperS. pic.twitter.com/nw5QOHWE7g

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 24, 2019

 

RACE RESULTS:

1. 47 – Nick Ottinger – JTG Daugherty Racing
2. 53 – Ryan Michael Luza – FlipSid3 Tactics
3. 28 – Garrett Lowe – Renegades
4. 88 – Brad Davies – JR Motorsports
5. 24 – Cody Byus – Mode Motorsports
6. 30 – Blake Reynolds – Team Dillon eSports
7. 18 – Bobby Zalenski – Joe Gibbs Racing
8. 4 – Nathan Lyon – Letarte eSports
9. 66 – Jarl Teien – G2 eSports
10. 42 – Dylan Duval – Independent
11. 3 – Michael Guariglia – Independent
12. 90 – Malik Ray – Richmond Raceway eSports
13. 46 – Jimmy Mullis – Richmond Raceway eSports
14. 6 – Zack Novak – Roush Fenway Racing
15. 63 – Timmy Hill – FlipSid3 Tactics
16. 55 – Brian Schoenburg – Williams eSports
17. 80 – Brandon Hayse Kettelle – Independent
18. 27 – Corey Vincent – Renegades
19. 20 – Jake Nichols – Joe Gibbs Racing
20. 75 – Philip Diaz – Mode Motorsports
21. 31 – Logan Kress – Independent
22. 14 – Casey Kirwan – Clint Bowyer Racing
23. 36 – Chris Shearburn – Letarte eSports
24. 19 – Casey Tucker – Independent
25. 37 – Christian Challiner – JTG Daugherty Racing
26. 7 – Ryan Lowe – Independent
27. 2 – Caine Cook – Independent
28. 99 – Logan Clampitt – Burton Kligerman eSports
29. 8 – Michael Conti – JR Motorsports
30. 16 – Chris Overland – Wood Brothers Racing
31. 51 – Eric J. Smith – Independent
32. 21 – Ray Alfalla – Wood Brothers Racing
33. 5 – Matt Bussa – Williams eSports
34. 62 – Keegan Leahy – G2 eSports
35. 83 – Adam Benefiel – Independent
36. 74 – Taylor Hurst – Independent
37. 79 – Nickolas Shelton – Clint Bowyer Racing
38. 33 – Benjamin W. Nelson – Team Dillon eSports
39. 17 – Michael Guest – Roush Fenway Racing
40. 77 – Ashton Crowder – Burton Kligerman eSports

SOURCES
RaceSpot TV
iRacing.com
Twitter