Crawford Takes Over Lead

For the sixth week of the season, the Nascar iRacing Class B series traveled to “Sin City”.  Top sim racers traveled out west to race the 1.5 mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway in hopes of winning the Season Two 2012 championship. In all, 574 drivers ran at least one race while 178 drivers attempted one lap in qualifying.

Crawford (1) leading the field to the restart.

“Chad stayed with me pretty well, I thought for sure he would’ve started plowing in dirty air” – Jared Crawford

The Strength of Field race for Week Six took place at the usual time on Friday night. The race had 22 drivers and featured NiSWC, Pro and Class A drivers. The SoF for the race was 4677 and paid 296 points to win. When it was all said and done, Jared Crawford (Michigan) once again proved his dominance. Crawford started on the point and lead 95 of the 100 laps. Finishing nearly three tenths behind Crawford was Chad J Laughton (Carolina). Laughton was the only driver who could match Crawford’s pace. For his second place finish, Laughton received 281 points. Dustin Montgomery (Mid-South) finished in the third position, over six seconds behind Crawford. Montgomery netted 267 points for third. Thomas Davis (Mid-South) and Jason Karlavige (Pennsylvania) rounded out the Top Five. Davis led one lap and received 253 points while Karlavige did not lead a lap and netted 239 points for fifth. Andrew Shirley (Mid-South) was the only other driver to lead a lap, leading five and finishing in the eighth position. The race was slowed four times for 14 laps and had five lead changes.

Click here to watch broadcast.

“Good run to the end” Crawford said after the race. “Chad stayed with me pretty well, I thought for sure he would’ve started plowing in dirty air but he did a great job. Ran out of gas doing my burnout. Had 1.6 laps of fuel left at the checkered flag! Lucky guess to stay out. Good job ETV and Michael Conti. Great announcer sir, as are all of the broadcasters on ETV!”

O'Rourke (6) battling with Zach Hudson (19)

The Top Five in the weekly standings mirrored that of the SoF race. Crawford finished the week on top with 296 points while Laughton finished second with 281 points. Montgomery was third with 267 points and Davis was fourth with 253 points. Karlivage rounded out the Top Five with 239 points. Davis was the only driver in the Top Five to attempt more than one race, winning his other attempt.

After six weeks of racing, Crawford finally was able to take over the season point’s lead. Crawford has 1308 points with only five weeks counted. Brad Mahar (New England) dropped to the second position after finishing ninth in the SoF race. Mahar has 1260 points and is 48 points out of the lead. David Cater now sits in the third position. Cater finished tenth in the SoF race at Vegas and gained 169 points, bringing his season total to 1153. EJ O’Rourke (Massachusetts) is now fourth in the point standings after only netting 155 points during Week Six. O’Rourke has 1149 points, only 4 points out of third. Rounded out the Top Five is Brandon Buie (Atlantic). Buie netted 160 points at Vegas and now has a total 1063, 246 points out of the lead.

For the first time in five weeks, Crawford was beat out for the fastest lap of the week. Joe Slama (California) turned the fastest qualifying lap of the week with a 30.496 second lap.  Crawford finished the week second in qualifying with a 30.504. Ian Hann (Mid-South) finished the week with the third fastest lap at a 30.575. Eric Brundles (Midwest) finished the week fourth in qualifying after turning a 30.581 second lap. Davis rounded out the Top Five in qualifying after turning a 30.586 second lap.

With six weeks of the season in the books, the battle for the points lead is really heating up. Jared Crawford was able to take over the lead with only five weeks counted. Brad Mahar, who has led the points most of the season, has dropped to second. For Week Seven, the NiCBS travels to the high speed Michigan International Speedway. Will Crawford be able to maintain his dominance or will Brad Mahar retake the points lead? Find out next week at InRacingNews!

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