CONCORD, N.C. -- The second eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series event got underway Sunday, which saw Alex Bowman place fifth at the virtual Texas Motor Speedway.
William Byron led for the majority of the race, but a tap on his bumper with just a couple of laps to go saw him slide out of the top five. He finished seventh.
Teammates Chase Elliott and Jimmie Johnson crossed the finish line in 20th and 19th, respectively.
Timmy Hill won the race.
Below is a closer look at how Sunday’s iRacing event unfolded for the four Hendrick Motorsports teammates.
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 1LE
FINISHED: 20th
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Starting 28th, Elliott had a hard time breaking into the top 20 at first. After the caution on lap 27 came out, he was in 18th place.
- When the second caution on lap 39 came out, Elliott opted not to pit, which placed him in second at the restart. He pushed up to first in lap 44, with teammate William Byron tailing him.
- He fell to fifth by lap 47, then was eighth by lap 49. He was in 12th by lap 51 and halfway through the race he was in 24th.
- With a flurry of cars pitting by laps 89 and 90, Elliott jumped up to sixth. However, he had not been on pit road since lap 28, which prompted him to pit on lap 92.
- Elliott ran into trouble on lap 99 when he hit the wall and was turned around. He headed to pit road and used his only reset of the race. He was in 31st when a caution came out with 15 laps left. By the time of the restart, he was in 29th place and a lap down.
- Another caution came out with three laps to go. Once the green flag dropped again, Elliott finished in 20th.
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 1LE
FINISHED: 7th
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Byron shot ahead after starting on the front row in the pole position. He maintained that position through the first fifth of the race.
- A caution came out in lap 27, but it didn’t affect Byron nor his position. He went off to pit road to get some fuel and came out first.
- After the second caution, Byron opted to get four tires and rolled out of pit road in third, but jumped up to second after a few seconds. He reclaimed the lead on lap 45, surpassing teammate Chase Elliott.
- He held the top position until lap 54, when he fell to third place, trailing by .3 seconds. He was back to second by lap 63 and four laps later he was back in first.
- He was the lone leader after the second- and third-place drivers decided to pit on lap 87, but one lap later he decided to head to pit road.
- He came off with fresh tires and worked his way back to fourth by the time the 95th lap came around. He was back in first with 19 laps left in the race.
- With four laps to go coming out of another caution, Byron was tapped on his rear bumper by the second-place driver and fell back to ninth. An incident with three laps to go saw another caution come out and Byron restarted seventh, which is where he finished.
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 1LE
FINISHED: 19th
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- After qualifying Johnson started in 25th place, but 10 laps in he was in 28th. A caution less than 25 laps in saw Johnson move up to 22nd.
- Johnson was toward the back of the pack in 29th place when the huge caution came in around lap 25. Another caution on lap 29 allowed Johnson to move to 26th, which is how he rolled off during the restart.
- Halfway through the race, he was in 25th place. By lap 90 multiple cars decided to pit, which allowed him to move into the top 10 at seventh. With a few more cars pitting, Johnson was able to move to fifth for a lap or two. He finally hit pit road in lap 94.
- Johnson was down a lap in 28th place by lap 100 and was in 27th when a caution came out on lap 110. Another caution with eight laps left saw Johnson restart in 21st.
- Just five laps later the caution flag was dropped again and Johnson was able to move up to ninth, even though he was a lap down. He spun out in the final laps and finished in 19th place.
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 1LE
FINISHED: 5th
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Starting in 20th off the grid, Bowman moved up to 16th by the time the 10th lap rolled around. When the caution came in on lap 27, he missed his box coming off pit road, eating up time. He came back off the road in 24th.
- He was up to 14th when the second caution of the day came out on lap 39, which caused him to have an incident. He started in 32nd for the second restart on lap 44.
- Bowman was in 15th by lap 69 after he worked his way up from the last restart. He pitted on lap 85 for fresh tires and was in eighth place by lap 95.
- With 18 laps left in the race, he was in 10th and more than six second behind teammate William Byron, who had the lead. At the restart after the third caution he was in ninth.
- With three laps to go another caution came out, which ended up working in Bowman’s favor. He was pushed up to fifth place, which is how he finished.