Keegan Leahy Returns to eNASCAR Winner’s Circle at Indianapolis

Denny Hamlin Racing’s Keegan Leahy outdueled four-time eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series champion Ray Alfalla and Letarte Esports’ Chris Shearburn to score his second win of the 2020 season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday night. In a race slowed by just one early caution flag, Leahy made the decisive pass in the race’s closing laps and found the winner’s circle for the first time since the season opener at Daytona International Speedway.

JR Motorsports’ Michael Conti paced the field to the green flag, but challenges from Leahy and Alfalla in the first half of the race proved to be too much to overcome. Leahy took the lead before the first caution for Matt Bussa, Jeremy Allen, and Brandon Kettelle sent most of the field into the pits, but lost the top spot with a slow pit stop. Conti would reassume the point until Lap 24, when Alfalla made the pass for the lead.

From there, it was all about executing the right pit strategy. A handful of drivers, including Michael Guariglia and Blake Reynolds, stayed out a few extra laps in the lead in hopes that fresher tires would help them climb back through the field or on a restart, but the race stayed green the rest of the way. That allowed Alfalla to cycle back to the point with 18 laps to go, but Shearburn and Leahy were closing fast.

With 10 laps to go, Alfalla, Shearburn, and Leahy were separated by less than a second. Leahy found his way around Shearburn first before setting his sights on Alfalla for the winning move. Shearburn fought back to second place, but couldn’t quite catch Leahy in the closing laps, and brushed the wall on the frontstretch coming to the checkered flag.

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

Fin.

St.

No.

Name

Manufacturer

Laps

Led

Interval

Best

Pts

1432Keegan LeahyToyota801850.24944
22036Chris ShearburnChevrolet800-0.24750.56339
362Ray AlfallaChevrolet8036-2.61750.4140
4821Garrett LoweFord800-5.16450.56737
518Michael ContiChevrolet8017-5.43550.19137
62353Ryan Michael LuzaFord800-8.99250.50335
7918Graham A. BowlinToyota800-9.34650.59534
81523Casey KirwanToyota800-9.53650.3733
93683Bobby ZalenskiChevrolet800-10.85250.21832
101325Nick OttingerChevrolet800-11.7150.40731
11179Eric J. SmithFord800-11.76950.41530
12246Jimmy MullisToyota800-13.62750.26529
133451Malik RayToyota800-17.31150.44428
143933Michael GuestChevrolet800-17.71450.70127
152615Michael GuarigliaFord805-17.94550.78727
162841Dylan DuvalFord800-18.25250.45625
17384Santiago TirresChevrolet800-18.50650.18224
183110Justin BoltonFord800-18.95150.56423
191288Brad DaviesChevrolet800-19.45850.07322
203355Caine CookFord800-21.07350.44921
212716Chris OverlandFord800-22.25350.19920
22377Ashton CrowderToyota800-22.31650.63819
231179Brian SchoenburgFord800-22.50950.6818
24166Nathan LyonFord800-22.60351.13417
25727Corey VincentFord800-22.81750.67216
261099Logan ClampittToyota800-23.33650.78715
271890Zack NovakToyota800-23.39850.6114
283717Kollin KeisterFord800-25.57550.57313
2953Blake ReynoldsChevrolet804-25.64350.68413
303575Phillip DiazFord800-26.74650.64511
312524Jake NicholsFord800-26.80850.84910
322437Christian ChallinerChevrolet800-27.58550.6579
331942Bob BryantChevrolet800-31.92551.0758
342954Alex McCollumChevrolet800-32.15850.4957
352197John GorlinskyChevrolet800-42.02850.6536
361466Jarl TeienChevrolet800-42.55551.0765
372247Jeremy AllenChevrolet790-1 L51.1764
383214Brandon KettelleFord790-1 L51.2523
39305Matt BussaFord650-15 L51.3422

 

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series points through nine rounds are as follows:

  1. Keegan Leahy, 308 (2 wins)
  2. Ryan Luza, 289 (3 wins)
  3. Garrett Lowe, 289
  4. Bobby Zalenski, 272
  5. Michael Conti, 264
  6. Ray Alfalla, 247 (1 win)
  7. Nick Ottinger, 245 (1 win)
  8. Brad Davies, 232
  9. Graham Bowlin, 226
  10. Chris Shearburn, 223

The 2020 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season continues on July 14 with the series’ return to New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The race can be seen live at eNASCAR.com/live and on the iRacing eSports Network on Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.