Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
By Aaron Bearden
Post-race review and analysis from the eNASCAR Pro Invitational Series race at Dover International Speedway.
Who Won?
William Byron… Again. He was just too strong, rally to the front after each pit stop to claim his third win in six eNASCAR events.
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The unstoppable duo
Try as they might, the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series field had no challenge for the tour’s top two drivers at Dover International Speedway.
After a race that saw numerous swings due to numerous cautions and varying tire strategies, William Byron and Timmy Hill once again emerged as the top two contenders for victory in the closing laps.
Hill led with older tires on a restart with 10 laps remaining after staying out when Byron and others pitted. The virtual Texas Motor Speedway was dependent on those that stayed out with him to hold off Byron, who restarted two rows back in fifth.
But Hill’s advantage quickly proved to be short-lived. Byron got a controversial jump on the restart, dove to the inside and knocked third-place Landon Cassill up the track, allowing him to quickly rise to second.
Cassill wasn’t pleased with the incident after the race.
[https://twitter.com/landoncassill/status/1257036989888696322]
Controversy aside, the move allowed Byron to close up on Hill, pass him cleanly and drive off for his third win in six Pro Invitational Series races.
The result continued a stretch of dominance that Byron says should be good for him even when he returns to his real No. 24 Chevrolet at Darlington Raceway.
“What gives me confidence is the fact that in pressure situations, being able to deliver under those is critical in a real race car because everyone can go real fast, but it comes down to the strategy and execution of that,” Byron said. “It gives me a lot of confidence in the heated moments of the race. I’m excited to bring that back over to the real race car.”
Hill’s strategy ultimately failed him, resulting in a third-place effort after Christopher Bell passed him in the closing stages. But it continued a streak of top-three runs outside of the unpredictable Talladega Superspeedway.
“The ending of the race came down to a decision,” Hill said. “I was running second with 10 to go, do I take two tires or four?
“I chose two to get the lead, along with two or three of my other competitors. I was really hoping they could hold (Byron) off for a couple laps, but William cleared those guys rather quickly, ran me down and he took the win.”
With only one race remaining in the Pro Invitational Series before the NASCAR Cup Series returns to action at Darlington, Byron and Hill have made it clear that they’re capable of outrunning the sport’s best virtually.
They’ll get a chance to show that their skill even applies to tracks they don’t know next week at North Wilkesboro Speedway – a track that hosted its last Cup race a year before Byron was born.
Christopher Bell finally runs well
Christopher Bell’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad NASCAR run of early 2020 came to an emphatic close at the Monster Mile.
After opening his rookie Cup season up on a dismal note, with an average finish of 29th in the opening quartet of races, Bell arrived in the eNASCAR world eager for a fresh start.
Things didn’t immediately go to plan. The Oklahoman started the eNASCAR effort with a 26th-place run at virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway, and struggled again in a 34th-place effort at Texas Motor Speedway.
Over the ensuing three races Bell showed occasional signs of promise, finishing 12th at Bristol Motor Speedway and 13th at Talladega Superspeedway, but he never rose into contention and suffered another letdown with a 24th-place effort at Richmond Raceway. Even as he found virtual success elsewhere, winning a World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car iRacing Invitational event at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, Bell struggled to hit the mark in his electronic Cup car.
That all finally changed on Sunday at Dover, when the 25-year-old overcame early issues with a spirited drive to second.
In the scheme of things the result meant nothing, but for the struggling rookie, it served as a great opportunity to shrug off his disappointing start to the year.
“I finally had a good run in the Cup Series,” Bell said in a post-race video. “Whether it’s real life or iRacing, I feel like I’ve had a monkey on my back. Maybe it’s off now.
“It felt nice to run second in the Rheem (Toyota) Camry. It’s been a long time coming. I feel like I’ve had pretty good speed at times in the iRacing series, it just hasn’t worked out between getting caught up in crashes, bad pit strategy calls and stuff like that.
“Running second at Dover was really fun. Hopefully we can keep the momentum rolling.”
Bell will get one more chance to make good on his iRacing pace next weekend at virtual North Wilkesboro Speedway before trying to sort out his poor real-life luck in the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Toyota at Darlington.
Chaos and minor controversy
As a fast mile track with high banking and tight racing, Dover is a facility known for causing chaos when wrecks occur.
The virtual version was no exception on Sunday.
Numerous accidents slowed Sunday’s 150-lapper at the Monster Mile, with many virtual cars crashed throughout the festivities. There were nine total cautions, shuffling the field up and forcing many drivers to use their fast repairs.
Of the 36 drivers that entered Sunday’s race, only 25 were running at the race’s end. Just 16 cars finished on the lead lap, and only 21 were within five laps of the leaders.
The most dramatic of those drivers crashed out was John Hunter Nemechek, who made an attempt to intentionally take out Denny Hamlin after getting knocked out of the top-five in an earlier incident.
Nemechek was removed from the server immediately after the incident, resulting in a 27th-place finish.
.@dennyhamlin gets airborne after a HUGE hit at Dover. 😳#ProInvitationalSeries | @iRacing pic.twitter.com/OyjJxLGEUY
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 3, 2020
Hamlin ultimately rebounded to finish sixth, salvaging another strong day without any of the remote-and-daughter-fueled monitor issues of the previous week.
For all the chaos in the race, that was the only notable drama. NASCAR’s Dover showcase avoided the chaos that befell the IndyCar iRacing Challenge in its finale at virtual Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the prior day.
Other Notes
- Michael McDowell spent a portion of the eNASCAR era fighting for an opportunity after being one of the few full-time drivers without a guaranteed spot at Richmond. It must have felt good, then, when he drove through the field to finish fifth at Dover.
- Regan Smith made his Pro Invitational Series debut on Sunday, piloting his former No. 78 Furniture Row Racing entry as FOX Sports’ driver analyst. Smith had a difficult day, though – he crashed multiple times en route to a 31st-place result.
- A week removed from his first eNASCAR victory, Alex Bowman overcame a mid-race crash to deliver a strong eighth-place run.
- Ross Chastain won’t be back in the No. 6 when real-life racing returns, but he gave the virtual car some TV time on Sunday. Chastain started on the pole and was fourth heading to the final restart when the aforementioned Byron-Cassill contact gave him damage that led to a 17th-place finish.
- The run was overshadowed a bit by Bell’s second-place effort, but Erik Jones bounced back from early contact to [score a respectable finish in fourth].
