Images via Justin Melillo
Charlotte Phoenix driver Graham Bowlin scored his first win of the 2022 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season on Tuesday night, taking the checkered flag in the first-ever eNASCAR round at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. Rise eSports driver Zack Novak took his second straight runner-up finish behind him, while 2021 series runner-up Logan Clampitt scored a season-best third place for William Byron eSports on his birthday.
Kyle Long’s Mode Motorsports started exactly where it finished in last week’s Coca-Cola 150 at Charlotte, but this time it was Cody Byus instead of teammate Matt Bussa in P1. Byus would soon yield the lead to XSET’s Casey Kirwan, who would hold it for most of the first quarter of the race before Bowlin made the pass for the top spot. Only one close call, when Jim Beaver eSports’ Blake Reynolds and eRacr’s Darik Bourdeau made contact on the frontstretch, threatened to cause a caution, but both drivers kept moving forward and didn’t collect anyone else.
Instead, the first caution wouldn’t come until Lap 60, a few laps after some of the front runners had already pit, when Rise eSports’ Jimmy Mullis hit Elliott Sadler eSports driver Garrett Manes from behind in Turn 1. The yellow flew just after Bowlin made it onto pit road, allowing him to finish his stop, but those who came in behind him weren’t quite so lucky, and were black flagged for entering a closed pit.
Bowlin kept the lead as the race stayed green from there, and built a buffer of more than two seconds at race’s end. Behind Novak and Clampitt in second and third, Malik Ray would earn redemption from last week’s Charlotte strategy gamble in fourth place, while former series champion Ryan Luza completed the top five for XSET in fifth.
eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series results from World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway were as follows:
Fin. | St. | No. | Name | Team | Laps | Interval | Led | Best | Pts |
| 1 | 4 | 48 | Graham A. Bowlin | Charlotte Phoenix | 120 | 0.000 | 97 | 34.354 | 40 |
| 2 | 19 | 5 | Zack Novak | Rise eSports | 120 | -2.822 | 2 | 34.518 | 35 |
| 3 | 6 | 97 | Logan Clampitt | William Byron eSports | 120 | -6.177 | 0 | 34.496 | 34 |
| 4 | 30 | 7 | Malik Ray | iRacing Motorsports | 120 | -6.615 | 0 | 34.619 | 33 |
| 5 | 23 | 4 | Ryan Luza | XSET | 120 | -6.831 | 0 | 34.526 | 32 |
| 6 | 39 | 75 | Matt Bussa | Mode Motorsports | 120 | -9.032 | 0 | 34.691 | 31 |
| 7 | 11 | 21 | Garrett Lowe | Wood Brothers Racing | 120 | -9.732 | 0 | 34.530 | 30 |
| 8 | 5 | 19 | Vicente Salas | Williams eSports | 120 | -9.872 | 0 | 34.564 | 29 |
| 9 | 9 | 25 | Nick Ottinger | William Byron eSports | 120 | -10.307 | 0 | 34.474 | 28 |
| 10 | 27 | 3 | Corey Vincent | Team Dillon Esports | 120 | -11.276 | 0 | 34.702 | 27 |
| 11 | 8 | 45 | Keegan Leahy | 23XI | 120 | -11.391 | 0 | 34.657 | 26 |
| 12 | 13 | 41 | Dylan Duval | Stewart Haas Racing | 120 | -11.891 | 0 | 34.425 | 25 |
| 13 | 12 | 18 | Bobby Zalenski | Joe Gibbs Racing | 120 | -13.886 | 0 | 34.504 | 24 |
| 14 | 32 | 51 | Ray Alfalla | Joe Gibbs Racing | 120 | -14.808 | 0 | 34.545 | 23 |
| 15 | 21 | 6 | Parker Retzlaff | Roush Fenway Keselowski | 120 | -15.666 | 0 | 34.706 | 22 |
| 16 | 2 | 95 | Casey Kirwan | XSET | 120 | -16.832 | 19 | 34.379 | 21 |
| 17 | 26 | 46 | Jimmy Mullis | Rise eSports | 120 | -18.133 | 0 | 34.683 | 20 |
| 18 | 3 | 55 | Allen Boes | Space Station Gaming | 120 | -19.173 | 0 | 34.459 | 19 |
| 19 | 16 | 23 | Mitchell deJong | 23XI | 120 | -19.729 | 0 | 34.324 | 18 |
| 20 | 35 | 20 | Donovan Strauss | Williams eSports | 120 | -19.918 | 0 | 34.547 | 17 |
| 21 | 31 | 17 | Kaden Honeycutt | Roush Fenway Keselowski | 120 | -20.695 | 0 | 34.690 | 16 |
| 22 | 20 | 8 | Michael Conti | JR Motorsports | 120 | -21.441 | 0 | 34.376 | 15 |
| 23 | 29 | 88 | Briar LaPradd | JR Motorsports | 120 | -21.802 | 0 | 34.743 | 14 |
| 24 | 1 | 24 | Cody Byus | Mode Motorsports | 120 | -22.628 | 2 | 34.394 | 13 |
| 25 | 33 | 10 | Steven Wilson | Stewart Haas Racing | 120 | -23.378 | 0 | 34.497 | 12 |
| 26 | 17 | 31 | Garrett Manes | Elliot Sadler eSports | 120 | -24.597 | 0 | 34.516 | 11 |
| 27 | 14 | 69 | Collin Bowden | eRacr | 120 | -25.121 | 0 | 34.471 | 10 |
| 28 | 24 | 43 | Kollin Keister | Charlotte Phoenix | 120 | -26.594 | 0 | 34.569 | 9 |
| 29 | 22 | 36 | Brian Mercurio | Letarte Esports | 120 | -27.168 | 0 | 34.682 | 8 |
| 30 | 7 | 40 | Dylan Ault | Letarte Esports | 120 | -27.620 | 0 | 34.470 | 7 |
| 31 | 18 | 79 | Femi Olatunbosun | Clint Bowyer Racing | 120 | -28.431 | 0 | 34.610 | 6 |
| 32 | 15 | 16 | Blade Whitt | Wood Brothers Racing | 120 | -28.652 | 0 | 34.616 | 5 |
| 33 | 10 | 33 | Taylor Hurst | Team Dillon Esports | 120 | -29.627 | 0 | 34.497 | 4 |
| 34 | 36 | 14 | Nickolas Shelton | Clint Bowyer Racing | 120 | -30.933 | 0 | 34.726 | 3 |
| 35 | 38 | 12 | Derek Justis | iRacing Motorsports | 120 | -31.501 | 0 | 34.653 | 2 |
| 36 | 25 | 15 | Blake Reynolds | Jim Beaver eSports | 120 | -33.003 | 0 | 34.572 | 1 |
| 37 | 28 | 2 | Liam Brotherton | Elliot Sadler eSports | 120 | -34.749 | 0 | 34.683 | 1 |
| 38 | 37 | 9 | Michael Guest | Jim Beaver eSports | 119 | -1L | 0 | 34.747 | 1 |
| 39 | 34 | 42 | Darik Bourdeau | eRacr | 34 | DNF | 0 | 34.472 | 1 |
eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series points through nine rounds are as follows:
- Matt Bussa, 250
- Nick Ottinger, 245
- Steven Wilson, 241
- Femi Olatunbosun, 220
- Casey Kirwan, 220
- Graham Bowlin, 213
- Corey Vincent, 208
- Zack Novak, 200
- Garrett Lowe, 193
- Michael Guest, 193
The 2022 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season resumes in three weeks’ time at Nashville Superspeedway, which trades last year’s All-Star Race for its first-ever eNASCAR points race in 2022. Broadcast coverage begins on Tuesday, June 21 at 8:30PM ET with Countdown to Green before the 9PM ET green flag, and can be seen at enascar.com/live.
For more information on the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, visit www.enascar.com or www.iracing.com/enascar. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.
