Ryan Luza may not have made the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoffs, but he was still able to leave a mark on the playoff picture.
Luza used pit strategy and fresh tires to win the playoff opener at the virtual Bristol Motor Speedway on Tuesday night (Sept. 13). It was the first win of 2022 for Luza and the 17th of an illustrious career for the 2017 series champion.
“I thought we had plenty of time [to get to the front with fresher tires] if we went green,” Luza told Steve Letarte post race. “Luckily, I was able to get through and make a couple of three-wide moves to get to the front. It came 0ne race too late [for the playoffs], but we’ll take it.”
Our very own @RyanLuza gets 1st place at Bristol Speedway! Congrats Ryan! 🙌🔥#RepTheSet❌ | #iRacing pic.twitter.com/EMMmD9iktJ
— XSET (@XSET) September 14, 2022
Two factors defined the first half of the race: clean racing and the dominance of Keegan Leahy. As soon as the green flag dropped at the Last Great Colosseum, Leahy set sail from the pole position in his No. 45 Virtual Racing School/23XI Racing Toyota, growing a lead as large as 3.5 seconds over second place Bobby Zalenski. The laps clicked off quickly and green flag pit stops were rapidly approaching.
The tone of the race changed entirely on lap 76 with the first of five cautions when Corey Vincent, Logan Clampitt and Darik Bourdeau wrecked on the backstretch. This set off a round of pit stops close to the fuel window to make it to the end.
The yellow flag would wave again on lap 98, only this time several playoff drivers would get caught up in the mess. Mitchell deJong in his #23 Logitech/23XI Racing Toyota made contact with Steven Wilson in the #10 Smithfield/Stewart-Haas eSports Ford on the frontstretch, setting off a chain reaction that damaged both of their cars as well as fellow playoff drivers Casey Kirwan and Matt Bussa, among others.
From there, the caution came out three more times for crashes in the closing laps, all of which involved at least one playoff driver. Graham Bowlin in the No. 48 Charlotte Phoenix Toyota got damage on lap 107, Bussa got dinged up again on lap 117 and Nick Ottinger and Femi Olatunbosun got tangled in the final wreck of the race on lap 140.
CHAMPIONSHIPLICATIONS!!!!
Matt Bussa, Casey Kirwan with HEAVY damage! Wilson, deJong, and MORE involved!!!#eNASCAR | @iRacing pic.twitter.com/F0wPXXhi4i
— Justin Melillo (@justinmelillo) September 14, 2022
The litany of cautions set the…
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