William Byron Dominates eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series Opener on Dirt Bristol

Hendrick Motorsports star and eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series team owner William Byron seized the lead for good on Lap 49 of the feature and never looked back on Wednesday night, scoring the first win of the 10-race eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series program for 2021 on the virtual dirt banks of Bristol Motor Speedway. Not only did Byron score a $5,000 donation from iRacing to the charity of his choice, he also proved that he’s still one of the drivers to beat in the invitational events after posting a top-five qualifying lap, winning the second heat, and leading a race-high 38 laps in the 70-lap final.

Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick snuck past Byron for a single lap in the middle of the race and took home second, holding off Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell and the Rick Ware Racing duo of Garrett Smithley and James Davison to do so. Davison won the first heat and led the first 18 laps of the race, while Smithley almost won the third and final heat but lost the lead to JTG Daugherty Racing’s Ryan Preece with two laps to go. Only Roush Fenway Racing’s Chris Buescher joined Byron, Reddick, and Davison as a lap leader in the feature; he paced the field for 13 laps, but fell to 13th place by race’s end.

Three cautions for multi-car wrecks foreshadowed what could be a very elbows-out NASCAR Cup Series race in the real world on Sunday, with Spire Motorsports’ Corey LaJoie the final victim on Lap 55. That set up a shootout of less than 10 laps to the checkered flag, one that greatly jumbled the back half of the field as drivers fought for any positions they could make up in the closing stages. But nobody had anything to match Byron, who added his first win of the 2021 iRacing campaign to his three checkered flags from last year’s spring series.

In addition to the night’s racing festivities, which set the stage for the Cup Series’ first dirt race since 1970 this weekend, NASCAR and iRacing also announced that a Chicago street course will stage FS1’s final Pro Invitational broadcast of the year on June 2. The 2.19-mile, 12-turn layout runs through Grant Park, past Buckingham Fountain, and down Lakeshore Drive, and was created based on a scan that iRacing took in the city last fall.

Full eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational series results from Bristol Motor Speedway were as follows:

Heat 1

Fin.

St.

No.

Name

Manufacturer

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

1315James DavisonChevrolet200.000917.984
2220Christopher BellToyota20-0.1511118.049
345Kyle LarsonChevrolet20-0.531018.171
482Timmy HillFord20-2.565018.198
5122Joey LoganoFord20-6.830018.461
61018Kyle  BuschToyota20-9.352018.542
7977Justin HaleyChevrolet20-13.401018.697
8111Kurt  BuschChevrolet20-15.643018.659
91341Cole  CusterFord20-16.605018.851
1079Chase ElliottChevrolet19-1 L018.922
11512Ryan BlaneyFord19-1 L018.861
12610Aric AlmirolaFord19-1 L019.495
131214Chase BriscoeFord8-12 L018.538

 

Heat 2

Fin.

St.

No.

Name

Manufacturer

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

1224William Byron JrChevrolet200.0002017.926
2117Chris BuescherFord20-2.271018.157
3734Michael McDowellFord20-6.734018.296
41138Anthony AlfredoFord20-8.913018.291
5442Ross ChastainChevrolet20-10.412018.302
6923Bubba WallaceToyota20-11.732018.329
71200Quin HouffChevrolet20-11.896018.719
8352Joshua BilickiFord20-12.586018.445
9579Clint BowyerFord20-15.107018.612
101088Dale Earnhardt JrChevrolet20-16.305018.990
11819Martin Truex JrToyota19-1 L019.016
12611Denny HamlinToyota19-1 L019.212
13136Ryan  NewmanFord18-2 L0

 

Heat 3

Fin.

St.

No.

Name

Manufacturer

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

1337Ryan PreeceChevrolet200.000218.205
2151Garrett SmithleyChevrolet20-0.9731818.217
378Tyler ReddickChevrolet20-1.744018.262
4548Alex W BowmanChevrolet20-3.235018.147
527Corey LaJoieChevrolet20-4.099018.400
6453Joey GaseChevrolet20-9.989018.316
7621Matt DiBenedettoFord20-10.133018.539
893Austin  DillonChevrolet20-11.132018.473
91099Daniel  SuarezChevrolet20-19.410018.581
10843Erik JonesChevrolet19-1 L018.624
111247Ricky Stenhouse JrChevrolet16-4 L019.883
121178BJ McleodFord10-10 L018.516

 

Main Event

Fin.

St.

No.

Name

Manufacturer

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

1224William Byron JrChevrolet700.0003818.618
298Tyler ReddickChevrolet70-1.334118.942
3420Christopher BellToyota70-1.679018.978
4651Garrett SmithleyChevrolet70-1.873019.056
5115James DavisonChevrolet70-2.2701818.469
61248Alex W BowmanChevrolet70-2.674018.980
775Kyle LarsonChevrolet70-3.430018.877
8102Timmy HillFord70-3.675019.032
91442Ross ChastainChevrolet70-3.764019.274
101853Joey GaseChevrolet70-4.643019.383
112000Quin HouffChevrolet70-4.934019.381
121618Kyle  BuschToyota70-5.805019.123
13517Chris BuescherFord70-7.9951318.912
141322Joey LoganoFord70-8.345019.369
151977Justin HaleyChevrolet70-10.342019.228
16337Ryan PreeceChevrolet70-14.442018.513
172121Matt DiBenedettoFord70-16.520019.095
18834Michael McDowellFord70-17.660018.754
191138Anthony AlfredoFord66-4 L018.868
201723Bubba WallaceToyota64-6 L019.169
21157Corey LaJoieChevrolet54-16 L018.924

 

The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series season continues on April 21 with a visit to Talladega Superspeedway (7PM ET, FS1), while the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series for the world’s top sim racers will be in action next Tuesday at Auto Club Speedway (9PM ET, eNASCAR.com/live). For more information on the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series and eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, visit www.eNASCAR.com. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.