Sep 15, 2024; Watkins Glen, New York, USA; A general view of Goodyear Eagle racing tires on pit road prior to the Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O’Haren-Imagn Images In the NASCAR Cup Series, it’s Christopher Bell. In the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, it’s all about Steven Wilson right now.
Wilson survived a pair of green-white-checkered restarts on Tuesday to win at virtual Richmond Raceway, matching Bell’s feat on the asphalt with his third win in four iRacing events this season.
Wilson, a 26-year-old from Guttenberg, Iowa, dominated the restarts, breaking away from the rest of the field as he got to the start-finish line in each restart. When the final wreck occurred after the white flag dropped, the race stayed green and Wilson cruised to the win.
It was the 12th career win for Wilson, who finished runner-up to Parker White in the final standings in 2024. He is the first driver to win three of the first four races of a season in series history.
“Yeah, I guess we’re just dominating so far,” Wilson said after the race. “It’s awesome to be 3-for-4, but hopefully we’ll keep going.”
Zack Novak finished second to Wilson’s No. 77 Chevrolet, 0.388 second behind the winner. In the night’s first heat, Novak’s No. 2 Toyota edged Wilson by 0.431 second to take pole position for the race.
“Being honest with you, second sucks. I really hate it,” Novak said after turning in his best finish of the season. “We didn’t really expect a long run to come like that, so that’s just on us for prep.”
Wilson overtook Novak in a long run in the race’s closing laps, allowing the former to be in the best position to survive restarts.
Rounding out the top five were White in the No. 95 Chevy, Vicente Salas (the winner of Heat 2) in his No. 11 Toyota, and the No. 4 Chevy of Donovan Strauss.
The series returns to action in two weeks at virtual Rockingham Speedway.
–Field Level Media
