Steven Wilson came into the 2024 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series season as the defending champion. His bid for a repeat got a huge boost with a victory at the virtual Richmond Raceway, his first checkered flag of 2024. Wilson started the main race from second, took the lead on a two-tire pit stop, and then stayed there to reach victory lane.
“Yeah, it was huge to execute in qualifying with a short race and no cautions in the heat,” Wilson explained on the Sunoco Post Race Report. “A couple of years ago, I was down on myself about how bad I was at short tracks, but I’ve just been trying to grind and learn.”
Casey Kirwan employed a two-tire pit stop to move up and finish fourth to win segment one of the regular season, earning five playoff points and a $3,000 bonus.
“I did not have too much confidence going into tonight,” the 2021 eNCCiS champion Kirwan said. “I’m surprised more people didn’t take two tires on that stop. That got us a lot of track position.”
TONIGHT’S ACTION
The eNCCiS’ annual visit to Richmond Raceway featured a new race format. The 40-car field divided in half for two 25-lap heat races and were then brought back together for 70-lap main event.
Drivers who qualified in odd-numbered spots ran in heat 1 to determine inside row positions. Then, drivers qualifying in even-numbered spots hit the track for heat two to claim their position on the outside row for the feature race. Furthermore, the top 10 finishers in each heat race earned series points, with the heat winners received 10 points and then going down one-point increments to one points for 10th.
HEAT 1
Top qualifier Michael Cosey Jr. led the field to green for heat one to start the night. Cosey Jr. stayed out front to lead all 25 laps and secure the pole for the main event, holding off a challenge from Nick Ottinger. Ottinger and Vicente Salas completed the top three.
It was a mostly clean race with just two spins. Donovan Strauss got spun on the opening lap, and Femi Olatunbosun spun and hit the turn four wall on lap nine.
“Nick Ottinger is one of the best behind me, and he was on my rear end for that entire thing,” Cosey Jr. said afterwards. “I was just sitting there trying to hit my marks.”
HEAT 2
Jimmy Mullis got a slow start from the front row, stacking the field behind him. The accordion effect from that start led to a wreck on the backstretch that collected Bobby Zalenski and Ray…
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