Dominant Vicente Salas scores eNASCAR Contender iRacing Series victory at Homestead-Miami

For the second week in a row, the top three finishers of the eNASCAR Contender iRacing Series included Kaden Honeycutt, Vicente Salas and Ryan Luza. This time, however, it was Salas scoring the victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Tuesday night, adding to his runner-up effort at Las Vegas last week. Luza finished in second, while Las Vegas winner Honeycutt wound up third.

100 laps were scheduled at the 1.5-mile oval in Southern Florida, and it was Salas who took the pole position alongside Briar LaPradd. The first three quarters of the race were fairly straightforward, with the race staying green the majority of the way. Christopher Pfeffer wound up retiring early after contact with Blaze Crawford sent his Toyota Supra hard up into the wall, but the race stayed green.

A pit cycle would occur near halfway, with Salas leading Cody Byus on to pit road just before halfway while Luza led Honeycutt, Zack Novak and more in the next lap. Salas reemerged as the leader following the cycle, with the rest of the field still mostly in contention should anything crazy happen.

With 15 laps left to go, the first caution flew after Darik Bourdeau went around following contact with Femi Olatunbosun. The entire field came back down pit road for four fresh tires. Only 10 laps remained, but the possible two tire call was left off the table as the field saddled up for its first restart of the night.

On the restart, the big one happened on the backstretch, and more than half of the field was involved in one way or another. Byus was at the front of it, spinning up the track into Daniel Buttafuoco after contact with Novak. About five cars in total were heavily damaged in the fracas, including Byus, Olatunbosun, and Derek Justis. With five to go, there was another caution off the restart, this time involving Logan Helton, Kevin King and Max Brady.

In the eNASCAR Overtime restart, Salas had Honeycutt to his outside, but he was able to pull away. Luza squeaked by for second as Honeycutt held off LaPradd for the final step on the podium.

eNASCAR Contender iRacing Series results from Homestead-Miami Speedway were as follows:

2023 eNASCAR Contender iRacing Series points following Round 2 are as follows:

1. Vicente Salas, 75
2. Kaden Honeycutt, 74
3. Ryan Luza, 69
4. Zack Novak, 62
5. Daniel Faulkingham, 60
6. Briar LaPradd, 60
7. Taylor Hurst, 60
8. Wyatt Tinsley, 58
9. Timmy Holmes, 58
10. Jonathon Dulaney, 50

The next event on the 2023 eNASCAR Contender iRacing Series schedule will take place at Phoenix Raceway on Tuesday, October 24. Sure enough, last season’s Phoenix Contender battle went in favor of Salas, who won handedly over both Jordy Lopez and Tucker Minter. The Phoenix stream will go live at 8 p.m. ET on eNASCAR.com/live and across iRacing social media channels.

The eNASCAR Contender iRacing Series is the final step on the Road to Pro ladder before becoming eligible to race in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series. For more information on this series, visit www.iracing.com/enascar/rtp/. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iracing.com.

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