Michael Conti Secures eNASCAR Championship 4 Berth With Win at Texas

In an unpredictable final race in the playoff Round of 8, a win-or-go-home race for Michael Conti and Keegan Leahy settled in Conti’s favor when the JR Motorsports driver scored the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series win at Texas Motor Speedway on Tuesday night. Conti’s win allowed him to secure an automatic Championship 4 berth for next week’s season finale alongside Charlotte Roval winner Bobby Zalenski and Kansas winner Nick Ottinger.

“This is crazy—I can’t believe that happened!” said Conti. “I’ve never been that excited to win a race before. This was the most intense season by far, to be in the spot we were in after the Roval and almost have it last week but have it ripped away. I thought we were going to walk away with it tonight on that last run, but then it got exciting again. I can’t thank everyone enough. It took two years (with JRM) to get a win, but we did it at the right time.”

During green flag pit stops just before halfway, an incident involving multiple playoff contenders was just the first to dramatically shook up the playoff picture. Ryan Luza, who had been above the cut line before the green flag, took the heaviest damage, leading to a restart where the entire playoff field was separated by six points for the final bubble spot as Conti held the top spot. At one point, Garrett Lowe, Keegan Leahy, and Ray Alfalla were even tied for fourth.

The race appeared to be playing into Conti’s hands after the final planned pit cycle, as Alfalla began sliding back in the pack from the lead. But with 25 laps to go, Chris Overland slapped the wall coming out of Turn 4 and slid into Chris Shearburn, allowing the entire field to come to the pits. That set off a flurry of cautions, none more significant than the one with five laps to go where Keister moved Clampitt out of the way for second and the resulting stack-up caused a massive wreck that affected multiple cars, including playoff drivers Lowe and Jimmy Mullis.

Conti and Keister started side by side for the first attempt at overtime, but Conti pounced to the lead quickly and hung on for dear life. Keister and Graham Bowlin put the pressure on, but Keister lost control coming to the checkered, triggering a massive wreck that also collected Leahy, Nathan Lyon, and others. Conti’s JR Motorsports teammate Brad Davies and Zalenski came home second and third, while Luza improbably hung onto the final playoff spot after surviving the late-race chaos.

eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series results from Texas Motor Speedway were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Name

Manufacturer

Laps

Led

Interval

Best

Pts

1128Michael ContiChevrolet1697328.75845
2788Brad DaviesChevrolet1690-0.26028.73139
3483Bobby ZalenskiChevrolet1690-0.38328.66738
43199Logan ClampittToyota1690-0.84428.80037
51717Kollin KeisterFord16921-1.01628.74537
63327Corey VincentFord1690-1.51028.83535
71525Nick OttingerChevrolet1690-1.80428.65234
83714Brandon Hayse KettelleFord1690-1.92428.79833
91341Dylan DuvalFord1690-2.14128.78432
103597John GorlinskyChevrolet1691-2.22028.83232
11532Keegan LeahyToyota1696-2.24928.75431
123236Chris ShearburnChevrolet1690-2.66928.85929
13106Nathan LyonFord1690-2.73328.76828
14183Blake ReynoldsChevrolet1690-2.90728.82627
15118Graham A. BowlinToyota1698-3.10028.81827
163847Steve SheehanChevrolet1690-3.15828.84925
1795Matt BussaFord1690-3.49828.74124
182724Jake NicholsFord1690-3.52228.88523
19337Christian ChallinerChevrolet1690-3.55328.86622
202816Chris OverlandFord1690-3.59428.83321
21364Santiago TirresChevrolet1690-3.71228.43520
222221Garrett LoweFord1690-4.21328.72219
232475Phillip DiazFord1690-4.44528.79518
241190Zack NovakToyota1690-4.50828.79117
25853Ryan Michael LuzaFord1693-4.82228.92517
262554Alex McCollumChevrolet1690-4.88728.83615
272315Michael GuarigliaFord1690-4.88928.79414
281423Casey KirwanToyota1697-4.88928.80314
291955Caine CookFord1690-9.19728.81812
302910Justin BoltonFord1690-11.32928.91611
31646Jimmy MullisToyota1690-11.87928.77410
32277Bob BryantToyota16932-20.16128.92710
333479Brian SchoenburgFord1696-21.83928.9539
343033Michael GuestChevrolet1688-1 L29.1288
35212Ray AlfallaChevrolet1660-3 L28.7366
362051Malik RayToyota1644-5 L28.7926
37169Eric J. SmithFord1620-7 L28.6384
382666Jarl TeienChevrolet690-100 L29.1103

 

Zalenski, Ottinger, Conti, and Luza will now head to Homestead-Miami Speedway for a shot at becoming the first $100,000 championship winner in series history, as the season finale moves up a day to next Monday, November 2. The stream will kick off at 8PM ET on eNASCAR.com/live. The series will also return to television as highlights of the championship race air on the NBC Sports Network on Sunday, November 8 at 7:30PM ET, directly after the real-world NASCAR Cup Series champion is crowned at Phoenix Raceway.

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