CONCORD, N.C. -- William Byron crossed the finish line first Sunday and secured his third victory in the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series.
He led 79 out of 150 laps at the virtual Dover track, allowing him to win three of the last four iRacing events. Byron is the only driver to win multiple races in the Pro Invitational Series.
"Racing anything ... is going to give you confidence if you're winning," Byron said. "I've never been in such a competitive environment for weeks on end with iRacing."
Overall, Hendrick Motorsports have won the last four iRacing events and have led the most laps in the entire series (407 of 758). Alex Bowman took home the victory last week at Talladega.
Bowman finished in the top 10 in eighth place while Jimmie Johnson finished in 28th.
Below is a closer look at how Sunday’s iRacing event unfolded for the Hendrick Motorsports drivers.
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA/VOLTATEX CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 1LE
FINISHED: 1st
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Byron rolled off the grid in eighth place and quickly moved up one spot to seventh. After the first caution came out, Byron had jumped up another spot to sixth.
- Byron broke into the top five on lap 22 and when the second caution came out. Soon he moved all the way to first place.
- He lost the top spot for a minute after the third caution came out but quickly regained the lead. On lap 53 he headed to pit road right as the fourth caution occurred. Two laps later Byron already was in fifth place.
- By lap 59 he was in fourth directly behind teammates Bowman and Johnson. He retook the lead by lap 67, surpassing Bowman.
- After the fifth caution, Byron pitted and when the green flag dropped again he was cruising in second place. Right before lap 100 Byron took the lead back but he pitted again as the seventh caution of the race came out with 43 to go.
- The eighth restart with 30 laps to go saw Byron still on top. The ninth caution came out with 14 laps to go and he headed to pit road. Coming off he was in fifth place.
- With 10 laps left Byron was in second and made the move to first with less than seven laps left. He remained on top and earned his third Pro Invitation win.
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 1LE
FINISHED: 28th
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Johnson started in 19th and 15 laps in he moved up four spots to 15th. The first caution of the race came out after an accident almost snared Johnson but he was able to snake through.
- Johnson slid back to 19th when the second caution came out on lap 23 but he optimized the yellow flag and jumped all the way up to sixth after he decided not to pit.
- Back under green Johnson surpassed teammate Alex Bowman for fifth but dropped a couple of spots to 10th by lap 32. He popped up one spot to ninth five laps later.
- After the third caution, Johnson was in 13th and a fourth caution on lap 52 allowed him to jump up a position. Soon Johnson moved into the top five in third place.
- Johnson fell two spots to fifth but was rounding out the top five with Bowman and Byron. He moved up to fourth, making three of the top four spots Hendrick Motorsports drivers.
- Lap 73 saw the fifth caution come out and allowed Johnson to head to pit road. Halfway through the race he had an accident and caused the sixth caution to come out. Johnson needed to use his reset and started again in 20th.
- He moved up to 16th on the 100th lap and pitted seven laps later under a caution. Less than a lap later another caution came out and Johnson moved up to 13th.
- On lap 125 Johnson was in an accident and had no more resets left. He finished 28th.
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 NOCO/CHEVY GOODS CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 1LE
FINISHED: 8th
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Bowman started at the back of the pack since he was the winner of last week’s race and jumped up to 24th during the first caution.
- When the green flag waved again Bowman moved up to 22nd. By lap 24 Bowman made the best of the second caution and moved all the way up to fifth. After the green flag waived again, he was in third by lap 32.
- By lap 50 Bowman was riding in fifth place. He moved up to second after the fourth caution came out and took the top spot by lap 61, though Byron passed him a few laps later. By lap 68 he was in third place.
- Two thirds of the race in Bowman was in fifth. However, he fell back and rammed into another car that came across his bumper, which caused the seventh caution to come out.
- After the eighth restart with 30 laps to go, Bowman was in 19th place. He worked his way up to 15th by lap 130.
- Bowman was back up to 10th once the ninth caution cleared. He jumped up to sixth with 10 laps to go and remained in the top 10 for the rest of the race, finishing eighth.