CONCORD, N.C. — William Byron picked up where he left off in the first race of the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series, earning the win at the virtual Bristol Motor Speedway dirt track.
Byron secured his fourth iRacing win since the inception of the eNASCAR series last year, extending his wins lead to two over Denny Hamlin.
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His Hendrick Motorsports teammates also performed well, earning three total top-10 finishes. Alex Bowman finished in sixth place and Kyle Larson earned a seventh-place result. Chase Elliott didn’t make the main event after finishing 10th in his heat. Only the top seven of the three heats made the main race.
Take a look at how the night unfolded for the Hendrick Motorsports drivers at the virtual Bristol dirt track.
KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 KYLE LARSON FOUNDATION CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 1LE
FINISHED: 7th
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Starting his night in the first heat, Larson rolled off the grid second. He ran a smooth race, ending in third and advancing to the feature event.
- In the 70-lap finale, Larson started in the fourth row and quickly found speed on the bottom groove, running his way to seventh by Lap 7.
- The first caution of the night fell on Lap 14 and Larson had dropped to 15th. After the restart, he traded some virtual paint with other cars, sending him to 18th.
- Quickly finding success in the bottom groove again, Larson catapulted the field and moved to 10th by Lap 31.
- Another caution fell on Lap 33 when Larson was ninth. Upon the restart, the field bumped and shoved and Larson was spun to the back to 14th.
- The final caution dropped with 15 to go, allowing Larson to boost himself up to ninth by staying out. He gained two positions over the course of the remaining laps to finish seventh.
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 1LE
FINISHED: 10th (Heat 1)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Elliott started the night in the first heat in eighth place and quickly found himself sitting in seventh, which was the cut line to make the feature race.
- Elliott fought for seventh until dropping down to ninth with 10 to go. He fell one final spot and was not able to punch his ticket to the finale.
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 1LE
FINISHED: 1st
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Byron started his night in dominating fashion. Sitting second to start the second heat race, he jumped into the lead by the end of the first lap and never looked back, winning the heat.
- Byron started second for the feature race. Staying in front of the chaos of the field behind him, Byron drove a smooth race, only losing two spots on Lap 22.
- Ten laps later, Byron re-established his second-place position and moved into the lead on Lap 34.
- Once gaining the lead, Byron stayed ahead and hold off the pack through two restarts before finishing the race as the winner.
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 1LE
FINISHED: 6th
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Bowman started his night in Heat 3, sitting in row three for the waving of the green flag. Bowman nestled in fourth place and finished there.
- Starting the feature race, Bowman was in row six but was bumped down to 14th shortly after the green flag waved.
- On Lap 14, Bowman was involved with the first on-track incident of the virtual race. The No. 48 Ally Chevrolet got a reset and headed back to the event, restarting 21st.
- Bowman wasted no time putting the new tires to use, jumping back to 15th by Lap 17.
- The night’s second caution fell on Lap 40 and Bowman used his second reset. He reshuffled back with the field and took to the dirt in eighth place.
- The final caution came out with 15 to go and Bowman stayed out. Sitting eighth, he made a final pass in the closing laps and finished the race sixth.