Shearburn Becomes Seventh eNASCAR Winner to Start 2021 Season at Kansas

When the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series switched its playoff model from points only to highlighting race winners for 2021, nobody expected that the series would tie an all-time record for different race winners to start a season. But on Tuesday night at Kansas Speedway, Chris Shearburn did exactly that, taking his Letarte Esports Chevrolet to victory lane to become the seventh different driver to win to start the season.

The race initially looked like it’d come down to strategy, as drivers debated between two or three pit stops, and Clint Bowyer Racing’s Blade Whitt stretched his fuel to make it on one. That all changed with 55 laps to go, when Wood Brothers Racing’s John Gorlinsky tried to split Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Graham Bowlin and Dylan Duval, and collected Kligerman Sport’s Bob Bryant in the resulting spin. The first caution of the night let the whole field pit, neutralizing strategy and setting up a showdown of who was truly fastest.

Or so they thought. The field didn’t make it a full lap on the restart before battling between 23XI’s Mitchell deJong and William Byron eSports’ Logan Clampitt up front got deJong sideways and triggered the big one into Turn 3. Dozens of cars, from XSET teammates Ryan Luza and Casey Kirwan to top rookie Steven Wilson of Roush Fenway Racing, took substantial damage and were either unable to continue or finished well off the lead lap.

Back up front, Shearburn took off on the final restart and never looked back, pulling away from 23XI’s Keegan Leahy and Kligerman Sport’s Isaac Gann. It was Shearburn’s second career eNASCAR win, following last season’s finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It also allowed him to join Leahy, Clampitt, Luza, Bryant, JR Motorsports’ Michael Conti, and Spacestation Gaming’s Vicente Salas on the current playoff grid with seven regular season races remaining.

Full eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series results from Kansas Speedway were as follows:

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series playoff grid through seven races is as follows:

1. Keegan Leahy, 1 win
2. Logan Clampitt, 1 win
3. Chris Shearburn, 1 win
4. Michael Conti, 1 win
5. Ryan Luza, 1 win
6. Bob Bryant, 1 win
7. Vicente Salas, 1 win
8. Michael Guest, 179 points
9. Isaac Gann, 158 points
10. Matt Bussa, 158 points

The eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series takes the next two weeks off before making its debut at Circuit of the Americas on Tuesday, May 18. As always, coverage begins with iRacing Countdown to Green at 8:30PM ET, with the racing action picking up at 9PM ET on eNASCAR.com/live and iRacing’s social media channels. For more information on iRacing and for special offers, visit www.iRacing.com.

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