Keegan Leahy Opens eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series With Win at Daytona

Denny Hamlin Racing’s Keegan Leahy became the 11th different winner in the history of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series at Daytona International Speedway on Tuesday night, completing 100 caution-free laps in the season opener as the first driver across the finish line. The Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada native and 2019 season runner-up edged out William Byron eSports’ Nick Ottinger by just four one-thousandths of a second.

Tuesday’s event was a night of firsts: a new series title sponsor in Coca-Cola, new teams from Hamlin, Byron, and Kyle Larson (among others), and a newly expanded prize pool that totals more than $300,000 this season. Leahy staked the first claim to a share of that, earning $1,500 for the Daytona victory, with Ottinger securing $1,000 and polesitter Bobby Zalenski of Virtual Racing School earning $500.

Despite the expanded prize pool, the race improbably went caution-free, with relatively few moments where drivers had to worry about wrecking. The biggest came in the later stages of the race when the lead pack reached Clint Bowyer Racing’s Brian Schoenburg, diving down and making it four wide to pass the lapped car. The move hurt the handful of drivers that had been camping out in the high line, but contact between Schoenburg and Wood Brothers Racing’s Chris Overland didn’t lead to a major wreck.

But superspeedway racing has a way of causing trouble, and while the field made it through Turn 4 clean, contact heading into the tri-oval sent the field wrecking across the finish line. Most of the top 10 made it through clean, but a majority of the field crossed the finish line out of control—including series rookie Graham Bowlin, whose Joe Gibbs Racing car flipped dramatically.

Full results from eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series action at Daytona International Speedway were as follows:

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season continues on February 25 at Auto Club Speedway. The race can be streamed live at 9PM ET/6PM PT on eNASCAR.com/live and iracing.com/live. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.