Dover NiPS Gallery

December 21st, 2011

Warren’s Dover Strategy Pays

by Jason Lofing on December 21st, 2011

Dover International Speedway played host to Week Eight of the NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS) season and saw Alex Warren deny Nick Ottinger’s bid for a third straight win in the series.  Ottinger made his presence known, leading 59 of 200 laps, but Warren had the speed and track position when it counted, leading the final six laps to earn his second win of the season. The Monster Mile didn’t come by its nickname by accident, as the high-banked, bowl of concrete is often the site of some rough and tumble action.  This online race was cleaner than anticipated, however, as the event had two long green flag runs including two rounds of green flag stops, both of which had a pronounced affect on the outcome. It came down to [...]

iRacers Team-Up

by David Phillips on December 20th, 2011

Two iRacers — NASCAR Sprint Cup regular Joey Logano and NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series/NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series (fixed) championship leader (and former inRacingNews contributor) Jordan Hightower — teamed-up to provide Logano’s fans with some insights on the recent iRacing.com Pro Race of Champions . . . Oval The first of two events in the inaugural iRacing Pro Race of Champions took place under the lights at the digitally recreated Charlotte Motor Speedway driving the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Chevrolet Silverado for 25 laps. Joey Logano started his No. 20 truck from the 17th position and was quickly moving his way up through the field. He would race as high as 12th, but misfortune on lap seven took Logano’s chance at a good run away as he made contact [...]

Osborn, Engelhart Set Sail at SoBo

by Tim Terry on December 19th, 2011

While Herb Engelhart will go down in the record books as the overall winner from Round Six of the NASCAR iRacing .comTour Modifed Series (NiTMS) at South Boston Speedway, it was Brett Osborn who made one of the biggest statements of the week. Osborn took one of the top two online races of the week, which set the tone when it comes to the weekly standings at the Virginia track. Osborn’s win came in Thursday’s 3102 Strength of Field (SoF) race in which he led 47 of 120 laps at the famed Virginia short track. David Colley was second, followed by Rick Webster, Donny Moore and Thomas Zinninger. Six cautions slowed the race while three leaders swapped the lead twice and front row starters Jerold John (one lap) and Jamie [...]

Miller Magic at New Hampshire

by Tim Terry on December 19th, 2011

Defending NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series (NiCCS) Champion Ashley Miller showcased his talent once again in the series by taking the overall win during Week Six of the 2011 Season Four season at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Miller’s victory in the 3012 Sterngth of Field (SoF) race on Tuesday put him over the top for Round Six with 188 points. Seven cautions slowed the 90-lap event for 25 laps and Miller showed his strength by leading 55 laps in the event. Second place belonged to Alan Jones while pole-sitter Heath Hindman, Roger Wagner and Phil Brown completed the top five. Runner-up in the Granite State belonged to Greg Evans based on his performance in the top split race of the week. The online race, which tipped the scales at [...]

Zipadelli moves to Stewart’s team

December 16th, 2011

Tony Stewart’s former crew chief Greg Zipadelli has been appointed as competition director at Stewart-Haas Racing. Zipadelli joins Stewart’s team from Joe Gibbs Racing, where he stayed after his driver left to set up his own outfit for the 2009 season. In his new role Zipadelli will oversee the cars of Stewart and Ryan Newman, as well as building up a third crew for Danica Patrick’s part-time NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule.

NASCAR acts on tandem drafting

December 16th, 2011

NASCAR has revealed the technical changes that it hopes will eliminate the tandem drafting that dominated restrictor plate races in 2011. The trend for cars to hook up in pairs started in the non-championship races ahead of the Daytona 500 in February, as advances in engine cooling meant that drivers could run close together without overheating their engines

Full Moon over Richmond

by Jameson Spies on December 15th, 2011

Week Six of the NASCAR iRacing.com Class A Series (NiCAS) took competitors under the lights at Richmond International Raceway.  Track position is key at the 0.75 mile D-shaped track. With the right strategy, a driver can turn a top ten car into a winning car, more so here than anywhere else on the schedule. A full moon set its sight on Richmond throughout the week (!), and one thing is for sure, night time definitely brings out the competitor in everyone. Kile Gottula once again represented California well, stamping his name at the top of the weekly standings. With his big week, Gottula extended his points lead over Steve Ritter, who was no slouch, putting himself fifth overall on the week. Gottula led 76 of the 140 laps from his [...]

Davis, Speed, van Gisbergen Shine in iPRoC

by David Phillips on December 15th, 2011

Scott Speed and Shane van Gisbergen won the battles, but Brandon Davis won the war in the inaugural iRacing.com Pro Race of Champions (iPRoC).  The first online event featuring an all star cast of 27 real world professional drivers from most of the world’s top race series, the iPRoC saw former F1 and NASCAR driver Speed take the victory in the opener, a 25 lap race for virtual Chevrolet Silverados at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  Australian V8 Supercar standout Van Gisbergen responded with an equally impressive run in the finale, leading all ten laps at Watkins Glen International in his digital Mazda MX5. But it was NASCAR K&N Pro Series’ Davis, who finished .345s behind Speed at Charlotte and .167s behind van Gisbergen at the Glen who picked-up the overall win [...]

Speed secures 15-race Cup deal

December 15th, 2011

Scott Speed has signed a deal to enter 15 NASCAR Sprint Cup races next year with new team Leavine Family Racing. The ex-grand prix driver, who made 13 Cup starts for Whitney Motorsports this year, hopes to help the team gain competitiveness as it expands for its second season of racing. “I am excited to team up with Bob Leavine and his guys at Leavine Family Racing,” Speed said.

Ottinger Steals Victory at New Hampshire

by Jason Lofing on December 14th, 2011

Nick Ottinger pulled-off what likely will be the wildest finish of the 2011 NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS) season on Tuesday night at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.  Ottinger stunned everyone by going from fifth to first in just one lap to steal the win from Kevin King, who had been the dominant sim racer for most of latter part of the event. Ottinger started the online race from the pole, and looked to have a very fast car but King got by him on a restart and used his track position to maximum advantage. That is, until the final restart. King led the field down to the line with only three laps remaining, holding the lead over teammates Marcus Lindsey, Richie Davidowitz, and Daniel Pope II. King took-off clean on [...]

Salvatore’s Stafford Story

by Tim Terry on December 13th, 2011

The chances of Brandon Salvatore repeating as the NASCAR iRacing.com Tour Modified Series (NiTMS) champion are very much alive after his performance during Week Five of the series at Stafford Motor Speedway. The reigning champion was once again atop the sim racing Tour Modified world after his big win vaulted him back to the head of the weekly standings and will surely make him a factor for the title when drop weeks are factored-in. Salvatore captured the glory during Thursday’s 3524 Strength of Field (SoF) race in which he led all but one of the event’s 100 laps. Runner-up Derrick Cormier2 finished four tenths of a second behind, followed by former champ Herb Engelhart, Jerold John and Ray Farlow. The race featured just the one lead change between Salvatore and [...]

Buchberger Back in Victory Lane in Chicagoland

December 12th, 2011

The NASCAR iRacing.com Class C Series (NiCCS) championship chase has turned into a battle between two of Illinois’ best sim racers. Alex Warren and Brandon Buchberger have been trading the top spot in recent weeks and with the series visiting their home state during Week Five, you knew they weren’t going to let up on their pursuit for the overall crown. When the checkered flag fell on seven days of intense tailgating action, it was a two point margin of victory for Buchberger over his Class C and NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS) rival Warren. Over 1,300 drivers took to the track during Week Five but it was Buchberger’s 3748 Strength of Field (SoF) victory on Monday that tipped the scales in the favor of the Sugar Grove native. Buchberger [...]

Grubb becomes Hamlin’s crew chief

December 9th, 2011

Joe Gibbs Racing has signed champion crew chief Darian Grubb to work alongside Denny Hamlin in 2012. Grubb lands at JGR after winning the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title with Tony Stewart, having worked at Stewart Haas Racing for the past three seasons and with Hendrick Motorsports for six years before that

Burns Tops the Field at USA

by Tim Terry on December 8th, 2011

Tommy Burns came out on top during Round Four of the iRacing.com Late Model Tour (iLMT) when the series visited Florida’s USA International Speedway. Burns, who hails from New York, bested 565 other sim racers from around the globe to take the victory in Week Four at the half-mile facility. Burns took home 179 points for his win on Wednesday, one of his two starts for the week. The race, rated at 2945 Strength of Field (SoF), saw Burns lead two thirds of the 45 laps en route to the win over Jeremy Hughes, Travis Powell, Tony Dugan and Todd Garren. Hughes led the first 15 laps of the race from the pole position before handing the lead over to Burns in the only lead change of the race. Burns [...]

Door-to-Door at Atlanta

by Jameson Spies on December 8th, 2011

The NASCAR iRacing.com Class A Series made a trip southeast for a visit to the always interesting Atlanta Motor Speedway. The aging surface at Atlanta not only provides the drivers with an utter handful of a racecar to wrestle for 110 laps, it also provides spectators with a whole lot of door-to-door, high speed racing action. For the second week in a row, Class A drivers flocked to the front of the leader board, with many NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS) competitors taking the week off. Brandon Schmidt did not mind one bit that most of the NiPS drivers stayed at the shop, as he took top honors on the week with 203 championship points. Schmidt dominated his one and only race, starting from the outside of the front row [...]

Ragan chasing Penske seat

December 8th, 2011

David Ragan has admitted that he has contacted Penske about joining the team’s NASCAR Sprint Cup line-up following the departure of Kurt Busch . Busch and Penske parted ways by mutual consent earlier this week, following a turbulent end to this season which had culminated in Busch being fined by NASCAR for verbally abusing a TV reporter while waiting to do an interview at Homestead. Ragan was in the middle of a contract with Roush Fenway Racing

Ottinger Class of the Field in Charlotte

by Jason Lofing on December 7th, 2011

Week Six of the NASCAR iRacing.com Pro Series (NiPS) featured the second straight night race of the season, this time with Charlotte Motor Speedway taking center stage. Nick Ottinger, fresh-off a disappointing twentieth place finish last week at Richmond, came to Charlotte with one goal in mind: dominate the race. He did just that, winning the pole and the race, leading 131 of the 175 laps. The two halves of the online race could almost be considered entirely different events. The first half was littered with wrecked cars, with seven caution flags flying in the first 75 laps of racing action. It was another case of cautions breeding cautions as the field was unable to get into a rhythm. The field did not even take the green flag before the [...]

Salvatore Takes Iowa

by Tim Terry on December 5th, 2011

Brandon Salvatore continued his march to the 2011 Season Four NASCAR iRacing.com Tour Modified Series (NiTMS) title during Round Four of the series as he edged-out the weekly win at the Iowa Speedway. Salvatore’s win was good for just one more point than the race which was taken down by Jamie Collier when it came to looking at the strength of fields (sof), which locked-down the win for the Georgia sim racer. Salvatore’s win came on  Thursday’s 3246 sof online race. The 100-lap race was slowed by four cautions and Salvatore led the most laps (71) of any of the three leaders. Herb Engelhart finished in Salvatore’s tire-tracks in second, followed by Jerold John, Kevin Walker and Derrick Cormier2. The win garnered Salvatore 202 points, which was tops on the [...]

Penske parts company with Kurt Busch

December 5th, 2011

Penske has confirmed that it has ended its relationship with Kurt Busch, effective immediately. A team statement said it had reached a “mutual agreement” with the 33-year-old, whose position had been under pressure since he was caught on camera making an obscene gesture in his car at the NASCAR season finale at Homestead, and then later being filmed by a fan while verbally abusing a member of the media.