Shearburn Becomes Seventh eNASCAR Winner to Start 2021 Season at Kansas

When the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series switched its playoff model from points only to highlighting race winners for 2021, nobody expected that the series would tie an all-time record for different race winners to start a season. But on Tuesday night at Kansas Speedway, Chris Shearburn did exactly that, taking his Letarte Esports Chevrolet to victory lane to become the seventh different driver to win to start the season.

The race initially looked like it’d come down to strategy, as drivers debated between two or three pit stops, and Clint Bowyer Racing’s Blade Whitt stretched his fuel to make it on one. That all changed with 55 laps to go, when Wood Brothers Racing’s John Gorlinsky tried to split Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Graham Bowlin and Dylan Duval, and collected Kligerman Sport’s Bob Bryant in the resulting spin. The first caution of the night let the whole field pit, neutralizing strategy and setting up a showdown of who was truly fastest.

Or so they thought. The field didn’t make it a full lap on the restart before battling between 23XI’s Mitchell deJong and William Byron eSports’ Logan Clampitt up front got deJong sideways and triggered the big one into Turn 3. Dozens of cars, from XSET teammates Ryan Luza and Casey Kirwan to top rookie Steven Wilson of Roush Fenway Racing, took substantial damage and were either unable to continue or finished well off the lead lap.

Back up front, Shearburn took off on the final restart and never looked back, pulling away from 23XI’s Keegan Leahy and Kligerman Sport’s Isaac Gann. It was Shearburn’s second career eNASCAR win, following last season’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It also allowed him to join Leahy, Clampitt, Luza, Bryant, JR Motorsports’ Michael Conti, and Spacestation Gaming’s Vicente Salas on the current playoff grid with seven regular season races remaining.

Full eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series results from Kansas Speedway were as follows:

Fin.

St.

No.

Name

Manufacturer

Laps

Interval

Led

Best

Pts

1336Chris ShearburnChevrolet1347029.96940
2432Keegan LeahyToyota134-1.838030.09935
3744Isaac GannChevrolet134-4.646429.92334
41497Logan ClampittChevrolet134-5.064029.93833
5910Graham A. BowlinFord134-6.185029.92232
6229Michael GuestFord134-7.399030.02931
7178Michael ContiChevrolet134-7.744029.82830
83166Blake ReynoldsChevrolet134-9.350030.08129
91341Dylan DuvalFord134-9.511029.92228
10296Nathan LyonFord134-10.743030.09927
112621Garrett LoweFord134-11.161029.98426
123724Jake NicholsFord134-12.013030.04925
134014Blade WhittFord134-12.3741430.02824
143275Matt BussaFord134-12.517130.08823
152851Ray AlfallaToyota134-13.307029.97422
161877Bob BryantChevrolet134-13.331129.97721
17153Corey VincentChevrolet134-13.450030.13220
18341Ashton CrowderToyota134-13.509029.97619
193611Malik RayFord134-14.177030.12918
203379Ryan DoucetteFord134-14.270030.13717
213552Jake MathesonFord134-14.711030.05116
223055Vicente SalasFord134-15.804030.02615
232425Nick OttingerChevrolet134-16.476030.04214
241688Brad DaviesChevrolet134-17.127030.10913
25382Garrett ManesToyota134-17.581030.14212
262315Caine CookFord134-19.717029.92511
27837Derek JustisChevrolet134-19.886030.08010
281916John GorlinskyFord134-21.439129.9909
291290Zack NovakToyota134-21.529129.9698
302747Brian SchoenburgChevrolet134-24.154030.1397
31529Zack NicholsFord133-1 L130.0016
323933Taylor HurstChevrolet133-1 L030.0625
332567Allen BoesChevrolet118-16 L029.9584
34683Bobby ZalenskiChevrolet117-17 L030.0563
35223Mitchell deJongToyota109-25 L030.0492
3614Ryan Michael LuzaFord95-39 L4129.8681
371038Casey KirwanFord92-42 L029.9241
381117Steven WilsonFord88-46 L029.8701
392046Jimmy MullisToyota84-50 L029.9781
402118Femi OlatToyota7-127 L030.2731

 

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoff grid through seven races is as follows:

  1. Keegan Leahy, 1 win
  2. Logan Clampitt, 1 win
  3. Chris Shearburn, 1 win
  4. Michael Conti, 1 win
  5. Ryan Luza, 1 win
  6. Bob Bryant, 1 win
  7. Vicente Salas, 1 win
  8. Michael Guest, 179 points
  9. Isaac Gann, 158 points
  10. Matt Bussa, 158 points

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series takes the next two weeks off before making its debut at Circuit of the Americas on Tuesday, May 18. As always, coverage begins with iRacing Countdown to Green at 8:30PM ET, with the racing action picking up at 9PM ET on eNASCAR.com/live and iRacing’s social media channels. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iRacing.com.