CONCORD, N.C. -- In the debut event of the Next Gen race cars in the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series on Wednesday night, Chase Elliott notched a career-best fifth-place finish at virtual Darlington Raceway.
William Byron and Kyle Larson were both involved in the final accident with a couple of laps to go. Byron finished 25th and Larson placed 26th.
Alex Bowman was collected in several on-track incidents that ultimately ended his night early at the virtual venue after running out of resets. He finished 29th.
Erik Jones won the race.
Take a look below to see how the third iRacing event of the season at virtual Darlington went for the four Hendrick Motorsports drivers as they piloted their NASCAR Throwback Chevys.
KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 KYLE LARSON FOUNDATION CAMARO ZL1 1LE
FINISHED: 26th
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Larson started 12th but was quickly collected in the first accident on Lap 1. He used a reset on pit road and headed back to the race in 30th on Lap 8.
- Larson began to take back the positions he lost, breeching the top 10 on Lap 30, sitting 10th. Larson’s surge continued, finding himself in fourth by Lap 48.
- Pitting under caution with 46 laps to go, Larson restacked in fourth. He continued to run in that position until the last on-track incident that collected the driver, sending him to pit road for a reset. Reshuffling after the pit stop, Larson was 26th and finish there.
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 HOOTERS THROWBACK CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 1LE
FINISHED: 5th
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Elliott took the track in his Next Gen Chevy in 37th. After dodging the on-track incident on Lap 1, Elliott moved to 27th on the restart. With another caution on Lap 21, Elliott elected to stay out and moved his way inside the top 10, sitting sixth.
- An on-track incident saw Elliott drop back to 24th on Lap 40, but it did not yield a caution. Regathering after the mishap, Elliott pushed his way back through the field, sitting in 19th after a restart on Lap 80.
- Once the green flag waved, Elliott picked off more drivers, moving to 13th with 11 to go. The final caution of the night came with eight laps left. After evasive maneuvers were taken, Elliott was sixth with three to go and finished in fifth, his best iRacing result yet.
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 VALVOLINE THROWBACK CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 1LE
FINISHED: 25th
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Byron started the night fourth after a solid qualifying session. Quickly after the green flag waved, an on-track incident collected a large part of the field, but Byron escaped the entanglement.
- After a series of cautions, Byron moved into second on Lap 23. Chasing down the leader on a long run, Byron took the lead on Lap 48.
- Pitting under caution on Lap 61, Byron returned to the field in second but the 23-year-old driver did not stay there long, retaking the lead with 36 laps to go. He dropped to fourth with 11 to go and was then caught in the last on-track incident that sent him to get a reset on pit road, shuffling him to 25th, where he finished.
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY THROWBACK CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 1LE
FINISHED: 29th
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- After technical difficulties prior to the start of the race, Bowman took to the track in 18th. When an on-track incident came about in just the first lap, he avoided the chaos and managed to bump up to 14th.
- Bowman pitted under green on Lap 19 and dropped to 37th. A caution came out on Lap 21 and saw Bowman in 32nd, two laps off the lead. Recollecting after a pit stop, Bowman made strides to make up the lost ground, sitting 29th on Lap 34.
- On lap 54, Bowman got loose and hit the wall but did not yield a caution, sending him to pit road to use his final reset on the No. 48 Ally Throwback Chevy. Bowman later got caught in another on-track incident that ultimately ended his night early on Lap 95, resulting in a 29th-place finish.