CONCORD, N.C. -- Alex Bowman finished in sixth place in the first-ever eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series Event, which featured all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers.
The iRacing event took place at the virtual Homestead track and saw nine cautions, dogs taking over the driver's seat and a virtual crowd cheering the race on.
Chase Elliott placed 24th, William Byron was 34th and Jimmie Johnson finished in 31st place.
Denny Hamlin won the 100-lap race.
Below is a closer look at how Sunday’s iRacing event unfolded for the four Hendrick Motorsports teammates.
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 HOOTERS CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 1LE
FINISHED: 24th
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Elliott started in 20th for the race and he remained in the latter part of the pack during the first three incidences. When the fourth caution came out, he was able to jump up to third place after he decided to not stop at pit road.
- Elliott held steady in third, but another incident saw teammate William Byron shoot out front, pushing him back to fourth.
- After the sixth restart, Elliott was back in seventh as cloud coverage virtually cooled the track. With 42 laps to go, he had dropped another two laps to ninth.
- At lap 59, Elliott bumped into another car and brought out the seventh caution of the day. He headed to pit road to assess the damage with the majority of the field and came out of the caution in 20th.
- By the ninth caution, Elliott was in 31st place, but another incident bumped him up to 12th with 20 laps to go. However, damage to his car saw him fall back further and Elliott placed 24th.
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 1LE
FINISHED: 34th
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- In the first lap, Byron moved ahead to first place after starting second. An incident within the first five laps saw the caution come out, but Byron maintained his top position when the flag waved green again.
- When another accident happened on lap 15, Byron and most of the field stopped at pit road. He rolled out back on the track in second place.
- He remained there on the third restart, but got tangled with another driver in the 28th lap of the race as he tried to go to the inside to pass for first. He squeaked away, but Byron needed to stop at pit road after the incident, which placed him back in 18th. He worked his way up to 15th after the fourth restart.
- Yet another incident on lap 38 saw many head to pit road, but Byron stayed out to take the lead after the caution. However, by lap 55 he was in second place, then fell back to third by lap 58.
- Coming off pit road, Byron was in fifth place he and Bowman were trading spots in fourth and fifth heading into lap 59. He tangled with Bowman and was caught up in the eighth caution of the day. Unfortunately, he was out of resets and was done racing with 20 laps to go.
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 1LE
FINISHED: 31st
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Johnson started in last place after having computer issues and was involved in an incident on the 15th lap of the race. With the restart, he was last was again.
- He made contact with another car and caused the third caution of the race to come out. He also took out teammate Alex Bowman in the incident.
- Further computer issues kept Johnson back of the pack, where he remained during the fourth incident of the race.
- He was in 33rd after the seventh caution of the race was several laps down from the leader at this point. Johnson joked as he was set up in his garage that he was getting used to the iRacing system.
- Due to other drivers running out of resets, Johnson finished 31st.
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 LLUMAR CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1 1LE
FINISHED: 6th
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Bowman rolled off the virtual grid in 12th. By the 12th lap, he moved up two spots, where he remained during the second restart. However, teammate Jimmie Johnson took him out.
- After the fourth accident in the race, Bowman was able to get up to fifth place. He fell back to sixth when teammate William Byron took the lead after the fifth caution came out.
- The sixth caution saw Bowman pop back up to fifth, despite joking that his dog Finn took over while he took a bathroom break.
- On lap 60 he was in eighth place, but he moved up to fourth and surpassed Byron. However, he got turned around on the track and Byron was caught up in the incident.
- The next restart saw Bowman in 18th place and he worked his way up to land in seventh with nine laps to go. He started closing fast with fresher tires and moved up to sixth with six laps left in the event, where he finished.