Brad Keselowski Steals First Career eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series Win at Talladega

James Davison qualified on the pole and dominated almost the whole race, but former NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski took advantage of the final restart to take the win in Wednesday’s GEICO 70, the second eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series event of 2021. Keselowski, running his first iRacing event of the year after missing the opener from Bristol, took his first Pro Invitational victory at the site of his first real-world Cup win in 2009, and will receive a $5,000 donation to his Checkered Flag Foundation on behalf of iRacing for the win.

The field quickly settled into single file racing upon the green flag to try and keep from wrecking, but a handful of wrecks peppered the early stages. Contact between William Byron and Austin Dillon led to the first yellow, while Daniel Suarez spun Clint Bowyer for the second. But the green flag stayed out through the race’s middle stages, cycling the field through green flag pit stops and ending Davison’s early stranglehold on the lead, but only briefly.

The intensity ramped up from there, starting when Corey LaJoie bumped Denny Hamlin and set off a resulting multi-car incident that also involved Kyle Larson. Those bigger wrecks began popping up in the late stages, and opened the door for the field to finally get past Davison on the final restart. Keselowski stuck to the low line as Davison went high, and when William Byron made his move on Davison, both cars dropped back. Keselowski took full advantage to hold off Christopher Bell for the victory.

Guest drivers for the night included fan vote winner Jesse Iwuji and Keelan Harvick, who raced alongside his father Kevin in the race. Iwuji was collected in multiple incidents during the night, while Harvick started from the back and got caught up in contact with Joey Gase before halfway that knocked him off the lead lap for much of the race.

eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series results from the GEICO 70 at Talladega Superspeedway were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Name

Manufacturer

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

1122Brad KeselowskiFord70248.994
22420Christopher BellToyota70-0.105049.163
3518Kyle  BuschToyota70-0.197049.177
4666Timmy HillToyota70-0.331049.142
53348Alex W BowmanChevrolet70-0.453049.032
6834Michael McDowellFord70-0.459049.199
7788Dale Earnhardt JrChevrolet70-0.546149.191
8115James DavisonChevrolet70-0.6676149.206
92741Cole  CusterFord70-3.082049.074
10153Austin  DillonChevrolet70-3.198449.031
112977Justin HaleyChevrolet70-3.261048.937
121423Bubba WallaceToyota70-3.320048.960
1394Kevin  HarvickFord70-5.696049.171
14351Garrett SmithleyChevrolet70-6.105049.214
154012Ryan BlaneyFord70-7.138049.195
161317Chris BuescherFord70-8.826049.226
17115Kyle LarsonChevrolet70-9.104048.968
18256Ryan  NewmanFord70-14.518049.051
192299Jesse IwujiChevrolet70-16.913049.177
203479Clint BowyerFord70-17.174049.161
21411Denny HamlinToyota70-17.423049.174
221719Martin Truex JrToyota70-18.336049.248
232847Ricky Stenhouse JrChevrolet70-19.370048.897
243843Erik JonesChevrolet70-23.103049.211
253697Daniel  SuarezChevrolet70-23.666049.460
26260Quin HouffChevrolet70-24.253048.971
273552Joshua BilickiFord70-25.034048.815
28167Corey LaJoieChevrolet70-26.019048.708
29218Tyler ReddickChevrolet70-26.728049.215
30238Anthony AlfredoFord70-31.192049.141
313742Ross ChastainChevrolet70-1:11.482048.807
321924William Byron JrChevrolet69-1 L048.684
33239Chase ElliottChevrolet69-1 L048.950
341021Matt DiBenedettoFord69-1 L049.189
351828Joey GaseFord69-1 L049.037
363214Chase BriscoeFord69-1 L048.931
373022Joey LoganoFord69-1 L249.045
383962Keelan HarvickFord68-2 L049.134
393178BJ McleodFord68-2 L049.000
402010Aric AlmirolaFord0-70 L0

 

The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series continues in two weeks with a visit to Darlington Raceway, where drivers are sure to run throwback paint schemes to reflect their real-world tributes to stock car racing’s heritage later that weekend. Coverage will kick off on May 5 at 7PM ET on FS1. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iRacing.com.