‘The Replacements’ return, Josh Berry takes it all at Kansas
THE VIRTUAL KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Just over a week ago, The Replacements starred on a Sunday afternoon in place of where a normal NASCAR Cup Series race would occur, running 100 laps at iRacing’s Atlanta Motor Speedway.
From that event, the NASCAR eSports scene blew up big time. It led to an actual eNASCAR Pro Invitational Series, starring 35 of NASCAR’s past, present, and future stars on FOX Sports 1.
Days before that, there was an eTruck Series Night in America, a charity eTruck event led by Ryan Vargas. Anthony Alfredo also ran an All-Star race at Iowa Speedway to great success.
Countless other events spawned, and the NASCAR community seemed ready to accept eNASCAR into their homes as a temporary replacement during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Tuesday night, The Replacements returned with another 100 lap show, live again on Podium eSports via the iRacing Twitch channel, with James Pike, Evan Posocco, and Justin Prince on the call.
Live at the virtual Kansas Speedway, many of the drivers from the first event returned to the fray, that list including the winner of the first race, Josh Williams, who spots for Ryan Blaney in the Cup Series.
Josh Berry, driver for JR Motorsports in the CARS Late Model Tour, was one of the new additions to the roster this week, and a potent addition, at that.
Berry out-qualified Williams and Cup Series star, William Byron, to grab the pole for the event.
Like the previous event, it ended up being led by one guy from flag-to-flag, and this time, it was Berry taking that honor, and taking the virtual trophy.
Wire-to-wire win tonight in the #Replacements100 @kansasspeedway!
Thanks @relyonATA & @iRacing..huge supporters of our @JRMotorsports Late Model team. pic.twitter.com/06lRJ4678T
— Josh Berry (@joshberry) March 25, 2020
Berry held off second place finisher, Williams, to lead all 100 laps, with Byron taking third, Parker Kligerman of Burton Kligerman eSports coming home fourth, and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chief Digital Officer, Bryan “Boris” Cook, rounding out the Top 5.
The race saw two official caution flags for eight laps, although there were a few incidents before the first caution flew at lap 37, including one that ended the day of Christian Eckes, Truck Series driver for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
The first incident was a big one, as it started with Byron’s Cup Series crew chief, Chad Knaus, and ended up collecting many hopefuls in the incident. The race featured one “Fast Repair”, and many would have to utilize it earlier than they would have liked to have.
Jordan Erickson, current graphic designer for Team Penske, was the center of the melee that brought out the second and final caution of the event a few laps after the race restarted.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was involved in both cautions, and having already used his “Fast Repair” in the first one was relegated to retirement once more, and wound up finishing 34th.
Bubba Wallace showed strength throughout the event, at one point as high as second place. Wallace eventually was relegated back to sixth after consecutive run-ins with Kligerman and Byron near the end of the event.
That #replacements100 was quite a race. Huge tire fall off and long green flag runs.
Threw a big slider on @BubbaWallace that was bit of a close clear. Made a little video about it👇 @iRacing @Valvoline | @BurtKligEsports pic.twitter.com/1oVcjzAl42
— Parker Kligerman (@pkligerman) March 25, 2020
Williams kept it as close as he could as he and Berry navigated lap traffic, but Berry never faulted, and came home as the winner in the first official race of the 2020 Replacements season.
The eight race official season will alternate between NASCAR Cup Series vehicles, as well as “Street Stocks”.
The Replacements will return in two weeks, and will trade off Tuesday nights on the iRacing Twitch handle opposite the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series.
SOURCES:
Podium eSports
Seth Eggert, Kickin’ The Tires
RACE RESULTS:
- 73 – Josh Berry
- 12 – Josh Williams
- 24 – William Byron
- 77 – Parker Kligerman
- 63 – Bryan “Boris” Cook
- 43 – Bubba Wallace
- 88 – Kevin Hamlin
- 22 – TJ Majors
- 51 – Garrett Smithley
- 38 – Todd Gilliland
- 99 – Ben Rhodes
- 10 – Ross Chastain
- 158 – Jonathan Davis
- 19 – Tyler Overstreet
- 7 – Justin Allgaier
- 15 – Regan Smith
- 27 – Kevin Iannarelli
- 11 – Justin Haley
- 2 – AJ Mccarron
- 30 – Drew Herring
- 21 – Anthony Alfredo
- 75 – Kyle Long
- 98 – Chase Briscoe
- 54 – Rodney Childers
- 189 – Chad Knaus
- 28 – Ron Capps
- 40 – Ryan Truex
- 31 – Tim Dugger
- 20 – Harrison Burton
- 17 – Taylor Gray
- 59 – Coleman Pressley
- 85 – Jordan Erickson
- 39 – Tim Clauson
- 8 – Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- 18 – Christian Eckes
- 02 – Chris Cram
- 45 – Ty Majeski
